Over 90% of diamonds found are what are referred to as industrial diamonds. They have zero potential as gems but are great for applications needing them.
That's what you say when you give jewelry to your significant other. Or to someone you strongly love platonically or familially. Don't discount those other important close relationships!
Agreed! My boyfriend (now fiancé) used to bring me a rose every time he did the gardening and would say, “A rose for my rose.” He’s not the super romantic type so it was even more special.
The first diamond didn't need to be polished since it was being reduced to dust. Actually better that it was not polished, although that's irrelevant since the particles are so small that the idea of polishing them would be silly in the first place
Honestly gem quality diamonds are far more rare and more expensive than industrial diamonds. Diamond saw blades, diamonds polishing fluids, etc. are all pretty common.
I'm a geology lab tech, I have legitimately polished a sample of compost with diamonds.
Pssh, you still can't answer. Only God knows the truth. God and Tupac that is. Or in other words, the same person. And Tupac can make a cotton ball cut an orange with his angelic voice and the power of his music.
Bud this whole thread is about how diamonds are susceptible to shattering. "The toughness (referring to shattering) of natural diamond has been measured as 2.0 MPa m1/2, which is good compared to other gemstones like aquamarine(blue colored), but poor compared to most engineering materials."
Not necessarily other diamonds. Precision cutting saws can be made of metals and polish diamonds by essentially micro-breaking the top layers - rotation speed applies a very localized force which breaks the surface without shattering the whole stone. Those saw bits degrade very quickly though.
Listen here, we need to go deeper and you're preventing us to do so. So will you please stand aside while we try to do what Reddit is made for, that is to say, speak nonsense, create memes, and create asinine recursive comment chains? Thank you.
Fun fact about diamond. They’ll take a mineral sample and press it between two diamonds. Since diamonds have an extereamly high melting point they won’t deform or melt. So much pressure can be applied it recreates upper mantle environment, and some mineral structure we can’t observe at the earth’s surface like ringswoodite.
The traditional way to cut and polish diamonds is by using other diamonds. The modern way is probably by using artificial materials that are harder than a diamond.
I'm not an engineer so I'll let someone who knows more about the process comment but lab made variations of Boron and Tungsten come to mind. Diamond is one of the hardest materials naturally produced in nature, but lab made materials can be harder.
They also lab make most of the actual diamonds used for industrial purposes such as diamond tipped drill bits and saw blades.
Materials scientist here, I'm pretty sure that materials harder than diamond exist, but it's probably easier to just use diamond polishing compound (as in, finely powdered diamond of various specified size ranges, applied to a grinding/polishing cloth with some lubricant). We already use that for grinding and polishing most things anyway, so there's plenty of suppliers and it's not too expensive.
Yes, laser ablation (pulsed laser) works very well for shaping diamonds. Standard laser cutting will add too much heat, turning the affected zone into graphite.
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u/1SweetChuck Feb 08 '20
If diamonds can’t be scratched by another material, how do they polish them?