Working for generations

To many people industrial diamond seems to be a relatively new material- and in many respects this is true. Certainly the modern use of impregnated tools, which consume the vast majority of the industrial diamond used today, is probably a century old, and most of the growth witnessed by the industry has taken place in the last fifty years. However, diamond has been recognised as being a unique material for several centuries. Originally recognised for its spectacular cosmetic properties and found in southern India, its early use as an industrial tool was confined to that of engraving. Asian references to the cutting of the very hard jade stone can be traced back to 300 BC and possibly further. In the 18th century French philosopher Diderot is describing the use of a hand-held diamond tool for drilling stone. By the mid 1800s this had developed considerably, and diamond rock drills were now powered by machines.

The very early developments in diamond tools took place relatively slowly. In contrast, the speed of development over the last 70 years or so, and in particular the last 50, has been dramatic. A major contributor to this growth was the commercial availability of synthetic diamond. When only natural diamond was available, the development of new applications utilising diamond was largely self-defeating, since the more material they consumed, the less feasible they were in terms of world supply because of the limitation in availability of the raw material.

This picture changed dramatically in the 1950s when innovation changed to invention and synthetic diamond became a commercial reality. Large presses now simulate the conditions of high pressures and temperatures that created natural diamond deep within the crust of the earth and through the application No one at the time could have predicted the scale of future industrial diamond production or possibly foreseen the impact this would have on manufacturing industry and, of course, the industrial diamond industry.