Basel – The Swiss Gemmological Institute SSEF in Basel has become the latest laboratory to create a machine designed to distinguish lab-grown melee diamonds from mined.
The Automated Diamond Spectral Inspection, or ASDI, machine analyzes large quantities of melee diamonds in a short period of time, the SSEF said.
The patent-pending ASDI can analyze polished round diamonds ranging in size from 1 to 3.8 millimeters in diameter and operates at an average sorting speed of 4,000 stones per hour, according to the SSEF. For each single authenticated diamond, the machine collects 14 high-precision size and proportion measurements in only 18 micro-seconds per stone.
The machine can identify colorless synthetic diamonds, both HPHT and CVD-grown, as well as colorless HPHT-treated diamonds. It only needs one operator to start a series of controls, and then ASDI can run autonomously.
