Diamonds
are crystallised carbon, during their formation
traces of non- crystallised materials were
able to be trapped within it. These imperfections
are called inclusions and can be measured
(microns).
These
inclusions can be of various colours, transparent
(gaseous bubble), black (carbon), green,
brown etc.
Some
are more obvious to the eye than others,
this factor is taken into consideration
where grading diamonds is concerned.
If
an imperfection is too large or too coloured
it can interfere with the brilliance or
sparkle of the diamond.
Clarity
is determined by examination under a specially
adapted stereoscopic microscope, the norm
being that the grading is labelled as 'viewed
under 10x magnification by a trained eye
using a loupe free of chromatic aberation'.
The
size of the imperfections go from 'Flawless'(IF
or F) to 'P3'(pique) or 'I3'(inclusion3).
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