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Gem Diamonds
Diamonds are naturally occurring crystalline carbon. Most diamond crystals have cleavage, a natural tendency to break along preferred planes, which allows cutters to create faceted jewels. Diamond has a hardness of 10 on the Mohs hardness scale, making it the hardest natural substance. This means that only diamond-faced tools can be used to cut and polish diamond jewelry.
Industrial Diamonds
Though not all diamonds can be made into jewelry, the rest are in demand for industrial uses. The tool industry subdivides industrial-quality diamonds into three varieties called ballas, bort and carbonado. The three types have slight differences in physical properties that allow them to be used for different applications.
Synthetic Diamonds
Diamonds can be grown in a laboratory setting under conditions of extreme temperature and pressure. Most synthetic diamonds are too small for use as jewelry and end up being used as diamond grit or for other industrial uses.
Typical Uses
When crushed to uniform size particles, diamond is used as a grit for polishing hard substances such as other gems. Larger particles are mounted in hard metal tools for rock and metal drills, dental drills and saws for cutting hard material. Industrial-quality diamonds are also mounted on phonograph needles to play vinyl records.