What is a Simulant?
First, you might be wondering what is a simulant. A simulant is a material that looks like diamond but does not have the physical properties of a diamond. They can be natural like quartz or white sapphire, or man-made like cubic zirconia or moissanite. Many simulants are cubic zirconia while not admitting that they are CZ. While cubic zirconia is man-made, …show more content…
They look exactly like a real diamond, and only jewelers and experts can tell the difference between simulants and mined diamonds.
Asha Diamond Simulant
An Asha simulant is a material that looks like diamond. It's a material that is in the same family as cubic zirconia, but it has an added layer to protect it. That layer is composed of the same atoms that are found in a natural diamond. They're designed to be as close as possible to a real diamond. The added upper layer gives the simulant sparkle and brilliance that can easily make it appear to be an actual diamond.
With the amorphous diamond treatment over the Asha simulant, it elevates the material to a Mohs rating of 9.6 to 9.8, which is only slightly less than a diamond's 10 rating. This makes it incredibly durable and scratch resistant.
A cubic zirconia is porous, which allows dirt, skin and oils to penetrate the surface. This makes them become dull, dirty and cloudy over time. The treatment on the Asha simulant creates a non-porous layer that reduces the ability of contaminants to penetrate the surface. The Asha diamond will remain the same beautiful, sparkling stone it was when first …show more content…
It should be very clear that Nexus diamonds are not lab-created diamonds. They're cubic zirconia, which can still be incredibly beautiful and a great replacement for a high-priced diamond.
The Nexus simulant costs less than a cubic zirconia of the same size. It has a hardness of 9.1 compared to CZ's hardness, which is an 8.5 on the Mohs scale. A Nexus simulant doesn't have the coating that's available in the Asha simulant, but the proprietary simulant has the ability to stay clear and sparkling for years.
Diamond Nexus Labs was started in 2004. It's located in Wisconsin and talks about their strong committment to ethically-sourced metals used in their jewelry. Their jewelry does not include nickel as an alloy.
Nexus Labs has a variety of colors in their fancy simulant diamond category. It includes glacial ice, champagne, light pink, deep brown and canary yellow.
Comparison
The added layer of carbon atom on the Asha simulant leads many to believe that it's a superior option to Nexus diamonds. Since cubic zirconia has the tendancy to pit and gather oils over time, it can become cloudy and dirty. This doesn't happen to Asha simulants because they have the proprietary diamond treatment that leaves the surface as smooth as a