ASDI-500 Tech Signifies a New Path to Diamond Transparency: Separating LGDs From Natural Stones

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Jewelry trade publications such as JCK are reporting ever more instances of lab-grown diamonds bearing fraudulent inscriptions linked to grading reports for natural gems. “Given that the resale value of lab-grown diamonds is next to nothing,” said Soraya Cayen, owner of the Carmel, CA. jewelry salon, Cayen Collection, “retailers and consumers alike are understandably seeking confirmation that their diamond is a naturally mined one.”

A new screening device is disrupting and demystifying melee: the ASDI-500. Created by the Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF) in collaboration with the Swiss robotics company Unimec SA, the ASDI-500 came on the market in November 2022. The automated small diamond screener has the precision and power to differentiate between hyper-tiny round colorless and polished melee ranging from 500 microns (0.02 inches or 0.5 mm) in diameter to 3.80 mm wide. The first ever device to evaluate large quantities of very small melee, the intrepid ASDI-500 can analyze 700 stones in an hour, detecting and separating lab-grown diamonds and diamond simulants from masses of natural diamonds.

The ASDI-500 is a direct descendant of the ASDI, which was created and introduced in 2014 to help the Swiss watch and jewelry industries maintain quality control and trust by screening batches of natural diamonds to detect any undisclosed synthetics and simulants that may have found their way in. “The ASDI was the very first device able to automatically authenticate large batches of colorless diamonds,” said SSEF’s Chalain. “Now the ASDI-500 is the very first automatic authentication device for the tiniest melee.”
The novel device will play a key role in increasing transparency for all levels of the polished diamond value-chain, with key brands like Zenith, a LMVH company, and others quickly adopting its use as part and parcel of their screening process.

 

Source: Forbes
Photo Credit: SSEF