Clarity enhancement

Some ways of treatments can be done to improve the clarity grading of a diamond and such methods are inexpensive. As these may be commonly done in some jewelry shops, it is actually important for you to evaluate the originality of the diamond and enquire whether any enhancement has been performed.  In addition, artificial material could be added depending on the type of enhancement done on the diamond and this adds on unnecessary weight into it. Hence, an enhancement could not only increase the clarity grade but also its carat (we will touch on this later). In this case, the price of an enhanced diamond should be lower than a similar diamond without enhancement. Usually, any enhancement being performed on the diamond is documented on the certificate of the diamond if it comes from a reputable laboratory.

Ways of clarity enhancement

Infilling/Fracture Filling: This describes the intentional filling of surface breaking cavities or fractures usually with glass, plastic, opticon with hardeners and/or other hardened foreign substances to improve durability, appearance and/or add weight. The disadvantage of such method is that many a times, the foreign material will have a different index of refraction compared to diamond, and this affects the overall appearance of the diamond. This process also do not have a permanent effect as the filling can be easily affected by repairs, sun-damage and cleaning. A trained gemologist can easily detect such enhancement is being done by seeing the light bending within the stone due to the foreign object.

Lasering: In this method, a strong and tiny laser beam is used to bore a tunnel into the diamond inclusion and strong acid is then force into the tunnel to burn or bleach away the inclusions. Though such an enhancement is permanent, the process would leave behind tiny tunnel trails which are visible under side-view magnification. A different method using laser beams creates cracks around the inclusion to facilitate its removal. This new method leaves marks which could look like natural flaws on the diamond.

A combination of filling and lasering can be used to enhance clarity. In this combined method, clear substance is pour into the tunnel created by the first method of lasering as mentioned above. As a result, the tiny tunnel trails may go undetected. However, we must emphasize again that the filling does not have a permanent effect.