diamond clarity treatments

We provide Laser Drilling and Fracture filling

laser drilling

Laser drilling a diamond is a permanent treatment to enhance the appearance of a diamond with many dark imperfections. A laser will drill a channel into the diamond down to the imperfection that must be ‘removed’. Acid is then used to bleach the imperfection making it appear white and therefore not as prominent. This will usually give the diamond a higher clarity grading then before the treatment took place.

Laser drilled diamonds are easy to detect using both a 10x loupe and a microscope as the channels are clearly seen going through the stone and down to the imperfection. At IGR we specify whether a diamond has had this treatment on the report.

fracture filling

This is a non-permanent treatment. Fracture filling involves injecting a lead based glass into a surface reaching inclusion to reduce the visibility of the inclusion. Sometimes, fracture filling will also be carried out on diamonds which have been laser drilled. The glass in this case is injected through the laser channel and down to the imperfection.

Fracture filling is a non-permanent treatment as the glass can be removed during cleaning or re-polishing the stone. Identification is usually fairly easy for a qualified grader as under 10x magnification the glass will show a “colour flash” or yellow/orange or purple/pink in darkfield illumination and blue/green in lightfield illumination.

Sometimes a microscope is required to detect this treatment. At IGR we specify whether a diamond has had this type of treatment on the report.