The use of diamonds in industry. Scope of diamonds. Stone with ancient history

For more than two hundred years gem used by people. Its application is far from being limited to the creation of beautiful jewelry, which are intended solely for beauty. The use of diamond at the present stage is developed in the field of medicine, industry and other branches of human activity, where it is of great benefit.

Useful properties of diamonds

Since the technical characteristics and properties of these stones are unique, it is not surprising that the use of diamonds is on the rise. Diamond is a modification of the chemical element carbon and is the hardest substance in the world . According to the generally accepted Mohs scale in gemology, it has the highest score of ten points. However, one should not forget about the increased fragility of diamonds. You can not drop any product of them sharply and carelessly handle them.

Due to the high thermal conductivity, diamond heats up slowly . In addition, it has such valuable properties as high elasticity And low compression ratio . It melts at 2000°C under a pressure of 11 GPa, and burns at a temperature of about 800°C. When burning, the carbon that makes up a diamond becomes carbon dioxide, and if burning occurs in an oxygen-free environment, the substance becomes graphite. As for the possibility of the reverse process, everything is much more complicated here and in practice it hardly finds its application.

The use of diamonds in jewelry

No matter how strange it may sound for the townsfolk, not all mined stones are used in jewelry. If quality is made from beautiful decoration, it must be very High Quality: preferably with a minimum of microcracks and foreign inclusions. The mineral, which is used for the purpose of making jewelry, should be transparent, with a minimum of grayish tints.

How are diamonds cut in order to obtain diamonds and with what help? They are polished and ground only with the same diamonds. This simple technique was discovered in India, when one of the jewelers, rubbing one diamond against another, found that both began to shine and glow brightly. An interesting fact is that the technique of grinding diamonds was kept secret for a very long time. Ludwig Berkem became the first European who, independently of the Indians, began to process stones in the same way.

Diamond sawing is a technique that appeared much later than polishing and cutting. At first, pieces of steel wire were used for sawing, but this took a very long time. Modern methods of sawing diamonds using bronze cutters significantly speed up and facilitate the work. The composition of such a cutter includes a special emulsion with diamond dust.

Diamonds that have been processed are called diamonds. In the future, they are evaluated by gemologists, and the stones are sent to auctions.

The use of diamonds in production

Not all stones are used in manufacturing. Those diamonds that are mined in natural deposits are very expensive, so their use in large industrial quantities is impossible and does not justify itself.

At the present stage, artificial diamond is obtained by three methods:

  • from steam, by chemical deposition;
  • under high pressure and temperature;
  • disruptive synthesis with imitation of natural conditions (an explosive substance containing carbon is blown up).

What is made from diamonds? All the properties that a diamond stone has are equally good in its use, but for the industrial sector, the decisive factor is the hardness of the stone. When cutting or drilling with the use of diamond grit, the material is cut very accurately, microcracks do not form in it. Any tool coated with diamond grit has greater productivity and excellent cut quality.

In Russia, for the entire period in which diamond was used in the industrial sector, about 1,500 types of tools with such a coating were made. These are scissors for cutting metal, and glass cutters, and tools for grinding. They are distinguished by high cutting accuracy, and the speed of work when using them is much higher.

Of course, such a tool is quite expensive, and the question may arise why you need to buy it if you can use cheaper analogues. However, practice shows that, for example, such a laborious process as cutting concrete, without a diamond-coated tool, can drag on for a long time, while special equipment greatly facilitates the entire process.

When drilling oil wells, diamond drills (or drills) are widely used, especially if it is necessary to drill a hole of a small diameter. Diamond drilling is indispensable in the construction of water supply and sewerage systems.

Due to the fact that artificial diamonds are now widely and widely grown and used, their use is available in any field: from heavy industry to medicine and space. In the space industry, diamond coating is used to increase strength aircraft. Surgical scalpels are special instruments that require increased precision and high quality work, as well as dental equipment. Therefore, the diamond coating for them has long been indispensable.

Diamonds are used as protective elements in the fields of chemistry and physics - primarily because the acid can dissolve any other substance, but the diamond remains intact when placed in it. It may seem surprising, but it is diamonds that are used to transmit electrical signals through cables in the field of telecommunications and electronics. Cables, which include diamonds, are very resistant to environmental influences and have high wear resistance.

Also, diamonds are widely used in astronomical optics - as a protective agent for optical instruments.

The scope of industrial application of diamonds is very wide and, thanks to the amazing and useful properties of this stone, one can understand that it has long been used not only to create jewelry, but also brings benefits to people everywhere in various areas of their activity.

The use of diamond began more than two centuries ago. Until the middle of the 20th century, they were used as a material for making jewelry. It is interesting that another diamond is taken to cut one diamond. The special strength of the material does not allow working on it with the help of crystalline formations of other minerals. Scientists mineralogists, physicists and chemists have long studied the properties of the rock. They revealed all the limiting characteristics, found the possibility of using stones in various production areas.

A sample of a valuable mineral is an allotropic change in carbon. Each person has the opportunity to become the owner of his part. This is the graphite of an ordinary simple pencil. Graphite is converted at a certain temperature increase. If he puts a stone in the Mohs hardness table, he will take the top line, 10. Science has not revealed higher hardness and rocks stronger than diamond have not yet been found. Other features of the mineral:

  • density - up to 3.4–3.5 g / cc;
  • heat conductivity - up to 2.3 thousand W;
  • friction index on a metal surface - 0.1;
  • the top layer is a gas film in the adsorbed state;
  • when removing the upper layer (film), the coefficient of friction increases to 0.5;
  • low index of the ability to withstand compression;
  • high modulus of structural elasticity.

It is possible to melt a crystal if a pressure level of 11 GPa is reached, the melting index is 4 thousand degrees. The stone begins to burn at t - from 800 thousand degrees, the process takes place in air. The diamond burns, leaving no residue, but forming carbon dioxide.

The flame when burning is blue. Another result is obtained when heated without access to air masses. Temperature - 2 thousand. The gem is converted into graphite, disintegrates, making sounds similar to cotton. Thermodynamics differs in this case by an anomalous character.

Scientists have found the use of diamonds in modern industries and developing technologies.

Applications

There are a lot of areas of use of material properties. You can list the main and most popular.

Everyone knows the use of diamond in jewelry to create jewelry. But its use is not limited to this. Today it is indispensable in industry, medicine, astronomy, and nuclear physics. And this is just a general idea of ​​what opportunities we got with the discovery of this mineral. Read on about what a stone is, what properties it has and what it gives to the world.

Natural and not only features of the mineral

Most of these stones, mined in nature, are industrial diamonds. They got their name from the Greek Adamas - invincible or omnipotent. Diamond is 99% carbon and 1% is impurities. It is they who affect the shade of the mineral.

Pure diamonds are almost never found in nature. Their color changes due to impurities: chromium, titanium, vanadium, manganese. Technical stones are called those stones that have any defects and are not suitable for jewelry processing.

Diamond is considered the hardest mineral, and its density is three grams per cm cubed. It is 150 times harder than corundum and 1500 times harder than quartz.

But hardness is not synonymous with inviolability. natural stones often have cracks, which makes them unsuitable for jewelry processing. So, in the 15th century, an unpleasant incident happened: in an attempt to test diamonds for strength with a hammer, mercenaries destroyed a huge collection. Its owner was Charles the Bold.

"Board" and "stones of clear water": distinctive features

Technical diamonds, called "boards", are used by man in many areas. We will tell you about this later. The stones intended for jewelry - diamonds, acquire their beauty only after cutting. But it is impossible to process a low-quality mineral.

It makes sense to cut only diamonds that do not have noticeable flaws: cracks, obvious inclusions, sharp color changes. The rest go to the creation of necklaces, rings and other not very sophisticated jewelry.

Nature did not conceive the diamond as a jewel. Among the mined stones, the most part is the board. Translated from French - "inferior". Its improved counterpart is carbonado, a durable black mineral with an unsightly shape. He has the most perfect indicators of strength and wear resistance.

What characteristics are more in demand

So what are the characteristics? Everyone knows that diamonds are made of carbon. But, the same chemical composition at graphite. However, its areas of application are quite different. Let's figure it out.

Diamonds are the hardest minerals on the planet, with a coefficient of 10 on the Mohs scale. And this is the maximum possible. The mineral has an extremely high thermal conductivity: 2300 watts. At the same time, its coefficient of friction is only 0.1.

Such a low friction is due to the presence of a thin film of adsorbed gas on the diamond surface. Without it, the figures would have increased five times. It is possible to melt a stone by creating a pressure of 11 hPa and a temperature of 4000 degrees. Diamond has the lowest compression ratio with the highest modulus of elasticity. This allows you to make from it a lot of irreplaceable things in the industry.

Quality classification

Jewelry is called beautiful large diamonds that have no or almost no color. All other stones are classified as technical. As a rule, these are dark defective samples that cannot be cut. Before people learned to use them, up to 80% of minerals were discarded during mining.

Today, they are used in almost all spheres of mankind. But, depending on the initial quality, they are divided into three groups (the classification is very conditional). The first category includes diamonds that can be given a specific shape. In the future, they create a metal-cutting tool.

The second group includes stones, the processing of which is not required. In this case, the scope of diamonds is diamond pencils and drill bits. The third category includes abrasive crystals with significant defects. They are given a powdered form.

Where boards are in demand

The use of diamonds is common in the metalworking industry. From them tips for drills and cutters are made. It is necessary for milling and fine turning of hard and super hard materials. Thanks to them, the quality and productivity of work increases several times.

Diamond is also used in other areas:

  • jewelry industry - for polishing precious stones;
  • nuclear physics - for registration of fast particles in chambers;
  • astronomy - the manufacture of ultra-sensitive lenses;
  • electronic industry - for thermal insulation;
  • astronomy - research work.

The use of diamonds made it possible to create tips for high-precision measuring instruments. They are indispensable when cutting glass. material include in metal wires as dies (plates with drilled holes).

Indian secret: a technique for processing the hardest minerals

To create a diamond, a diamond is subjected to processing - cutting. But, the usual gems are obtained only after processing with something no less solid. Specialists grind and polish the resulting samples for a long time before inserting them into jewelry.

The cutting technique was discovered in India by one of the jewelers. Rubbing one diamond against another, he noticed that the stones began to shine and change shape. long time the technology was kept secret and India was the sole exporter of diamonds.

In Europe, cutting technology became known only in 1465, thanks to Ludwig Berkem. He created a rose-shaped diamond, but this technique is hardly used today. But modern masters learned how to saw a gem to speed up the work.

For cutting, a special emulsion is used, which includes diamond dust. Previously, diamonds were cut with pieces of steel wire, which took a lot of time.

Drilling and cutting: working principle and advantages

Most diamond tools are used to process hard materials for industrial purposes. The blanks are divided into two groups. The first is the field of drilling, and the second is cutting.

The mineral has high wear resistance and strength. Coating tools with diamond grit increases their service life and increases productivity. Stones are used to make many tools:

  • drills;
  • milling cutters;
  • glass cutters;
  • scissors for metal;
  • grinders.

And thanks to the application of diamond chips to the tools, the accuracy of their work increases. It also increases the speed of the workflow. Equipment is less noisy, and workers need less effort to complete tasks.

Thanks to diamond drills and drills, you can make the most accurate hole without fear of cracks and chips. This is true when laying water supply systems, sewerage, Internet cable. Indispensable when taking samples from monolithic concrete structures.

Alternative uses

People are constantly improving created technologies and developing applications for old components. Previously, diamonds were only used in jewelry and tools. Today, their demand is much higher.

Diamonds are used in electronics and telecommunications so that different frequencies can be transmitted over a single cable. Due to the properties of the mineral, the optical fiber is not afraid of temperature changes and power surges.

Diamond is widely used in chemistry and physics as a protective mechanism. So, when creating optical lenses, the mineral protects them from damage by hydrofluoric acid. This makes it possible to achieve new heights in the study of space, the planet, quantum physics and improve laser technologies.

Medical field of use

Thanks to the qualities described above, diamond has become an indispensable material in the medical field. Although this is comparative new area its application (unlike industry), it is already clear that it is the future.

So far, the main area of ​​application of diamond powder in medicine is the creation of a high-quality tool. A specially coated scalpel is used in surgery, making cuts more precise. It is indispensable for complex operations. For example, on the spinal cord or brain.

In addition to the scalpel, diamond is used to create scissors and clamps. The material is used in the manufacture of dental equipment. A medical laser project is under development, where the mineral will act as a conductor.


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Now there are a huge number of varieties of diamonds. There are several classifications in the literature, based on a variety of principles. Some of these classifications are based on a combination of material properties - physical and chemical. They are classified according to the place of extraction, color, quality of the material. A variety of diamond may include such parameters as weight, the presence of defects, the density and uniformity of shades.

Rough diamond

Classification of diamonds by weight

The weight of this mineral is measured in carats. In the SI system, a carat is 0.2 grams. The main characteristic is weight if the stone is small. Large stones are graded for hue, color purity, and inclusions. There are 3 types, depending on their mass:

  • stones are considered small, the weight of which does not exceed 0.29 carats;
  • medium stones have a mass of 0.3 to 0.99 carats;
  • all minerals weighing more than 1 carat are considered large.

The price of stones is proportional to the square of their weight, but this is not the only parameter that has an impact.

Scope of application

Depending on the application, mined diamonds are divided into two categories:

  • technical variety of diamond;
  • jewelry diamonds.
  • Board - intergrowths of crystals, fragments and crystals are not gem quality. They are usually too light in weight to be cut. Other crystals fall into this category. Low quality, for example, having poor color, defects, cracks or numerous inclusions. The bead is a non-natural diamond, which is crushed into crumbs for use in jewelry and used as an abrasive powder.
  • Ballas are spherical diamond spherulites with a hard shell of dark color that do not contain inclusions.
  • Carbonado - is practically the most famous diamond. The name means "carbon" in Portuguese. This variety of diamond is black aggregates, consisting of irregular grains or small octahedral crystals. They have a higher abrasion resistance coefficient than conventional industrial diamonds.

About 20% of mined diamonds are for jewelry. Their number is higher in alluvial deposits. Such diamonds must meet certain criteria: they must be transparent, without large cracks and inclusions.

They are subjected to faceting, in which approximately half of the mass is lost, but at the same time all the qualities of the mineral are revealed. The most common cut used for this is the diamond cut. But others can also be used, such as stepped, cabochon, wedges and combinations thereof.

404 carat diamond mined in Angola

Separation by color

The color of this mineral is acquired due to impurities and inclusions, structural defects, and the effects of external factors, such as radiation. The color can be uneven, and also consist of several colors. There are also diamonds in which only the top layer has a color. The most common are pale diamonds with shades.

Varieties of industrial diamonds, of which the majority (approximately 80% of all mined stones) have the following color options:

  • milky white;
  • grey;
  • black.

Gem-quality diamonds include:

  • diamonds with yellowish color and tints;
  • smoky brown variety of diamond.

The rare colors of the mineral are:

  • bluish;
  • greenish;
  • mauve.

It is very rare to find diamonds that have no color. Most of them have a barely noticeable shade, called a color. A transparent diamond without any shades is called a “pure water diamond”. There are several versions of the origin of this term. One of the most ridiculous is that the smugglers allegedly hid the stones in containers with water, in which they were not visible.

The whole absurdity of the version lies in the fact that in fact they are distinguishable in the water. In order for this not to be the case, they must also have a similar refractive index. The refractive index of water is 1, and that of diamonds is 2.5. Thus, it is not difficult to distinguish this stone in the water. Most likely, the term is used as a designation of the transparency inherent in water.

What shades of diamonds are the most valuable? In addition to transparent ones, diamonds are valuable, which are painted in bright colors, which, as already mentioned, are called fantasy. They are extremely rare. These include: golden and wine-yellow diamonds, as well as some other more rare colors e.g. red, cherry, blue, pink. The rarest are the types of diamonds with these colors: purple, bright green and black, provided that they belong to the gem variety.

diamond mining

Until the 19th century, diamonds were mined only by open pit mining. However, after that, kimberlite pipes were discovered, and it took new technology mining. The diamond-bearing vein goes deep into the earth, and in this regard, it was decided to develop underground mining methods.

There are several ways to mine ore.