How do they make lab-created ceylon sapphires? Are they a less quality than real?

Answer 1

Essentially, they are aluminum oxide just like natural ones, with whatever impurity causes the colour (escapes me at the moment). Its just about creating the conditions to grow the crystals. They probably would have less flaws than a natural one because of the controlled conditions but you might pay less because you have cut out the costs of the mining and shipping and brokering.

Answer 2

First of all you cannot make a Ceylon sapphire in the lab - as its name implies it has to be a sapphire found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka now). What they refer to as Ceylon sapphire is just synthetic sapphire with a colour similar to that of sapphires from Sri Lanka. These range from a delicate sky blue to the magnificent deep, rich blues of the finest gems.
There are two main systems used to produce synthetic sapphires. The first, cheapest and most common is the Verneuil process (invented in 1902) and also called the Flame Fusion process. In this method powdered aluminium oxide mixed with the colouring agent, in the case or blue sapphire iron and titanium is fed through an oxygen/hydrogen flame where it melts and recrystallizes in the lower temperature zones as blue Sapphire. This method is very cheap and millions of carats are produced every year, a lot, without the colour ends up making the mineral "glass" on watches. It is cut and polished exactly the same way as natural material.
The second way is hydrothermal growing of crystals - I will not go into the details of the system here but it is more complicated, expensive and time consuming than the first way. The resulting product is a better imitation of natural stones but synthetic none the less.
The quality can be very high in both cases but the value is almost nothing when compared to a natural stone of similar colour and quality. A top colour, untreated, natural stone may cost you $20,000 per carat whereas the synthetic (lab created) material costs about $0.50 per carat before cutting. Most synthetics are not even sold by weight but by size e.g. 7x5 mm. ovals. Hydrothermal comes in at about $45 per carat these days.
The price of natural Ceylon Sapphires seems to have come down in the last few years but this is not the real truth. Natural inferior stones are now being heat and infusion treated which gives them better colour and clarity. Natural UNTREATED stones have not only held their price but have gone up considerably. These days if you are buying a sapphire of any serious value it is a good idea to demand a certificate from a reputable laboratory stating that the stone is both natural and untreated together with a receipt from the shop saying the same thing.

Answer 3

Ceylon Sapphire