Yellow diamond blade attached

Industrial uses

A diamond scalpel consisting of a yellow diamond blade attached to a pen-shaped holder

A scalpel with synthetic diamond blade

A polished metal blade embedded with small diamonds

Close-up photograph of an angle grinder blade with tiny diamonds shown embedded in the metal

The market for industrial-grade diamonds operates much differently from its gem-grade counterpart. Industrial diamonds are valued mostly for their hardness and heat conductivity, making many of the gemological characteristics ugg cardy of diamonds, such as clarity and color, irrelevant for most applications. This helps explain why 80% of mined diamonds (equal to about 135,000,000 carats (27,000 kg) annually), unsuitable for use as gemstones, are destined for industrial use. In addition to mined diamonds, synthetic diamonds found industrial applications almost immediately after their invention in the 1950s; another 570,000,000 carats (110,000 kg) of synthetic diamond is produced annually for industrial use. Approximately 90% of diamond grinding grit is currently of synthetic origin.[39]

The boundary between gem-quality diamonds and industrial diamonds is poorly defined and partly depends on market conditions (for example, if ugg knit demand for polished diamonds is high, some suitable stones will be polished into low-quality or small gemstones rather than being sold for industrial use). Within the category of industrial diamonds, there is a sub-category comprising the lowest-quality, mostly opaque stones, which are known as bort.[79]

Industrial use of diamonds has historically been associated with their hardness; this property makes diamond the ideal material for cutting and grinding tools. As the hardest known naturally occurring material, diamond can be used to polish, cut, or wear away any material, including other diamonds. Common industrial adaptations of this ability include diamond-tipped drill bits and saws, and the use of diamond powder as an abrasive. Less expensive industrial-grade diamonds, known as bort, with more flaws and poorer color than gems, are used for such purposes.[80] Diamond is not suitable for machining ferrous alloys at high speeds, as carbon is soluble in iron at the high temperatures created by high-speed machining, leading to greatly increased wear on diamond tools compared to alternatives.[81]

Specialized applications include use in laboratories as containment for high pressure experiments (see diamond anvil cell), high-performance bearings, and limited use in specialized windows.[79] With the continuing advances being made in the production of synthetic diamonds, future applications are becoming feasible. Garnering much Ugg kids excitement is the possible use of diamond as a semiconductor suitable to build microchips, or the use of diamond as a heat sink[82] in electronics.

Synthetics, simulants, and enhancements

Synthetics

Main article: Synthetic diamond

Six crystals of cubo-octahedral shapes, each about 2 millimeters in diameter. Two are pale blue, one is pale yellow, one is green-blue, one is dark blue and one green-yellow.

Synthetic diamonds of various colors grown by the high-pressure high-temperature technique

Synthetic diamonds are diamonds manufactured in a laboratory, as opposed to diamonds mined from the Earth. The gemological and industrial uses of diamond have created a large demand for rough stones. This demand has been satisfied in large part by synthetic diamonds, which have been manufactured by various processes for more than half a century. However, in recent years it has become possible to produce gem-quality synthetic diamonds of significant size.[32]

The majority of commercially available synthetic diamonds are yellow and are produced by so called High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) processes.[83] The yellow color is caused by nitrogen impurities. Other colors may also be reproduced such as blue, green or pink, which are a result of the addition of boron or from irradiation after ugg short synthesis.[84]

A round, clear gemstone with many facets, the main face being hexagonal, surrounded by many smaller facets.

Colorless gem cut from diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition

Another popular method of growing synthetic diamond is chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The growth occurs under low pressure (below atmospheric pressure). It involves feeding a mixture of gases (typically 1 to 99 methane to hydrogen) into a chamber and splitting them to chemically active radicals in a plasma ignited by microwaves, hot filament, arc discharge, welding torch or laser.[85] This method is mostly used for coatings, but can also produce single crystals several millimeters in size (see picture).