Originally sung by Carol Channing, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” indicates the most popular application of this stunning gemstone. Diamonds are used for jewelry. Jewelers practice their craft with utmost precision and care to provide a woman with a stunning piece of wearable that she can proudly display, anytime, anywhere. However, contrary to popular belief, there are alternative uses of diamonds.
Alternative Uses of Diamonds
Because a diamond is formed by the Earth’s natural movement, people forgot that it embodies physical characteristics that certain processes require to be achievable. The combination of intense heat and extreme pressure crystallizes carbon that transforms into tetrahedral bonds of superior strength.
As such, diamonds’ incredible durability and unparalleled strength are applied to cutting tools where other items fail to deliver. But, this is only one of the many applications of diamonds. Read more to discover the alternative uses of diamonds.
What are the Main Uses of Diamonds?
Before we delve further into the not-so-popular uses of diamonds, here are the most common applications of the precious stone.
Jewelry and Other Bodily Decorative Items
Diamonds are commonly used in engagement rings and other jewelry such as pendants, necklaces, earrings and charm bracelets. The outstanding characteristics that make diamonds a must for wearable pieces are its exceptional luster and extravagant shine. No other precious stone is as alluring and as shiny as a diamond. Even without a source of light, a diamond will sparkle on its own.
Cosmetic Applications
Have you heard of diamond-infused facial moisturizers? How about diamonds in body lotions? Aside from being a girl’s best friend, which makes it ideal for the creation of exceptional jewelry pieces, the diamond solidifies its reputation of being a girl’s best friend because of the many advantages it offers in skin care applications.
As discovered by scientists, diamonds really brighten one’s face and skin! Depending on the formulation, diamonds offer a variety of skincare benefits that amplify other ingredients and its effects on the skin. For example, white diamond powder nourishes the skin and heals common skin problems.
Black diamond powder, on the other hand, absorbs harmful UV rays and transforms them into photoluminescence. Photoluminescence is a subtle blue glow that makes your face youthful, vibrant and free of skin discoloration.
What Products are Made from Diamonds?
The remarkable luster of diamonds make it a prominent precious stone option for jewelry. But, if you are curious about “what are diamonds used for other than jewelry?” here ïs our compilation of products that make use of diamonds.
Dental Tools
Can you imagine having your dentist take care of your pearly whites with top-of-the-line diamond dentistry tools? We can’t either! However, this has become the new norm for the technology of dentistry.
Diamonds are used to coat dental burs. Dental burs are tools that aid in the preparation of the teeth’s crown for partial dentures and teeth bridgework. At the same time, diamond-coated dental burs are used for grinding, trimming, cutting and polishing various dentures and metal works.
Cancer-Finding Medications
Who could’ve thought that diamonds have a place at the frontier of developmental medicine? Not to mention the fact that diamonds can help cure cancer? An Australian research has reported that synthetic nano-diamonds in combination with cancer medications aid in tracking cancer cells.
Why is this a medicinal breakthrough? Simple. Cancer-targeting medications has been in existence for quite some time however, doctors can’t clearly determine which part of the patient’s body is being treated. Invasive biopsies have a number of limitations, which can potentially delay and reduce the effectiveness of a cancer medication.
Having nano-diamonds hyperpolarized and attaching them to cancer-targeting medicines will make the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging more effective as it is able to track the molecules’ movements.
Another reason for the effectiveness of nano-diamonds in the treatment of cancer is due to the strength of the bond of a diamond’s component. With the medication alone, cancer cells tend to be flushed out of the body along with the drug.
But, once scientists have attached nano-diamonds to chemotherapy drugs, the medication remains in the body. The reason for which being the fact that cancer cells can’t carry nano-diamond particles out of the body.
Nail Polish and Diamonds
Priced at an astounding $250,000 per piece, the Azature Nail Polish features black diamonds in its limited-edition release—not on the average jewelry spender’s league. According to Azature, “Black diamond is the ultimate fine jewel.” Moreover, he said, “One day I thought, why not showcase this style on my nails? So, I developed a black diamond nail polish with the same attention and quality as my jewelry in order to preserve the elegance of the black diamond. I am thrilled to offer this new twist on fine jewelry!”
Aside from this already expensive nail polish, another record-breaking lacquer made headlines before being usurped by the Azature creation. The $130,000 Gold Rush by Models’ Own made its way to the Guiness’ Book of World Records before being surpassed by another diamond-adorned polish.
Diamond Dust Spray Tan
If having a diamond ring isn’t enough for your finger and you need that bedazzling kind of shine, why not try a diamond dust spray tan for the ultimate sparkle? Kim Kardashian went for the most luxurious (and undoubtedly the most expensive) spray tanning session days before her wedding to Kanye West.
This Diamond Dust Spray Tan is perfect for black tie occasions and weddings With cameras flashing left and right, the sparkle from the tan will make a woman’s skin glow, which is perfect for once-in-a-lifetime moments.
Diamonds as Replacement for Silicon on Computers
Aside from the impressive feats of innovations above, diamonds can actually replace silicon as a device’s semiconductor. Silicon has been a go-to semiconductor for mega device manufacturers like AMD and Intel. However, diamonds may literally outshine silicon in several ways.
How does a seemingly innocent diamond fare in a fast-paced technological world? Simple. Diamonds are known as one of the hardest materials in the world. This durability comes from its strong covalent bonds and unique 3D structure. Moreover, it has a high-thermal conductivity, which is ideal for the heated structure of a device.
What do these characteristics imply? To put it simply, diamonds can absorb heat five times more without affecting the performance of a device and it can instantly cool down. At the same time, diamonds can tolerate high voltages, which can power devices with a more effective electrical current.
Diamonds in Facial Treatments and Body Solutions
A lot of organizations and beauty manufacturers take advantage of peoples’ demands for a life of beauty and luxury. As such, numerous beauty products are infused with diamonds because of its extraordinary moisturizing and rejuvenating properties.
At the same time, diamond-infused products are said to have an anti-aging characteristic that makes the demand overwhelmingly high. Plus, some products promise wrinkle reduction that is considered to be the holy grail for ladies when it comes to facial and body needs.
Ten Amazing Facts About Diamonds
Aside from stunning the world with its unique luster, diamonds are captivating the world with its unparalleled strength and diverse history. If you want to know more about diamonds that no history books will tell you, check out the infographic below.
Other Uses of Diamonds
After understanding what are the uses and economic value of diamonds and what makes them special, we’ll now look into the alternative uses of diamonds. Aside from being a staple in jewelry, current innovations make for diamonds uses in everyday life.
Industrial Applications
Outside the realm of stunning jewelry, diamonds are making their way to the hard and cold world of industrial tools and applications. Because of its durability and strength (an astounding score of 10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale), diamond particles are added to industrial tools like saw edges and other polishing tools to make them more powerful than ever before.
For a diamond to be utilized for industrial applications, its heat conductivity and hardness are the characteristics to be considered. Aside from having particles embedded in tools intended for cutting and grinding, there’s another process where diamonds are used for industrial applications. Diamonds as an abrasive are crushed into a fine powder and are used for polishing.
Improvement in Sound Quality
One of the most unexpected yet astounding discoveries of diamond integrations is on speakers and sound systems. Nowadays, you’ll discover some speaker domes that are made up of diamonds. The contributing factor to which sound engineers and equipment manufacturers use diamonds is because of its strength.
Speakers, because of continued use and vibrations, wear down. As such, engineers and manufacturers use diamonds to provide a solution to the wear-and-tear aspect of a speaker. After all, if you’re going to invest in a high-end speaker, why not make it worth every dollar?
Agents in Human Tissue Engineering
Various studies have shown promise of nano-diamonds, with their high compatibility with human cells, particularly, bone-associated cells. As such, the integration of nano-diamonds in human tissue engineering indicates viable growth support.
Aside from the nano-diamond’s compatibility with the human body, the outstanding hardness of its structure reinforces the polymer matrix, which is commonly utilized for polymer bone scaffolds.
Diamonds for Bionic Eye Implants
Diamonds have the natural ability of refracting and reflecting light. Because of this characteristic, science has discovered the powerful integration of diamonds in eye implants in the hopes of bringing clear vision to people with sight problems.
Through the initiative of an Ottawa-based company, diamonds used for bionic eye implants will be surgically-attached to the back of the eye. The implant, acting as the brain’s camera, will transmit data to the brain, which in turn will comprehend the signal, mimicking the process of sight to brain transmission.
Integration for Energy Storage and Conversion
Nano-threads from diamonds have been found to be potentially capable of mechanical energy storage. This energy could prove viable in biomedical and wearable technologies, such as smart devices. However, the diamonds used for these energy-producing applications are synthetic ones.
Artificial Diamonds in Military Applications
Synthetic diamonds, otherwise known as laboratory-grown diamonds are making their way into modern warfare strategies. Although it is unknown what specific aspect of military applications diamonds fit in, it could be either electronic warfare systems or radar communications.
Following the initial use of diamonds in military science, there were several discoveries that paved the way for synthetic diamond use in this particular industry. The first one is through directed energy weapons, which are long-range and commonly associated with lasers and missiles.
Another use is for MEMS (microelectromechanical) applications. MEMS are a breed of devices that include biosensors, optical switches, and airbag sensors.
Diamonds in Computer Technology
One notable use of diamonds in computers today is in the manufacture of heat sinks. To put it lightly, a heat sink is a device that reduces the heat or temperature of a hardware component, essentially in computers so as to not affect performance. Since diamonds are impressively resistant to heat and cools instantly, they are an excellent choice for heat sinks. Plus, the presence of diamonds in a heat sink does not affect the structural stability of the computer processor.
Diamonds are truly one of a kind. Their unique luster and brilliance, strength, and durability make these stones ideal for various applications. Who could’ve thought that aside from stunning jewelry, diamonds could find applications in areas such as the health and industrial sectors? As research continues to discover the possibilities of alternative uses of diamonds, the sky truly is the limit.
Speaking of diamond use, did you know that one can also be developed in a laboratory? If you want to know more about this process, check out our article, “Lab Grown Diamonds: Are They Worth it?”