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Heat Conduction
Except for most blue diamonds, which are semiconductors, diamonds are
good electrical insulators, meaning they reduce the flow of
electricity. Blue diamonds owe their semi-conductive property
to boron impurities, which act as a doping agent and cause p-type
semiconductor behavior. Diamonds appear cold and hard, but they’re good
conductors of heat because of the strong chemical bonds within the
crystal.
Most natural blue diamonds contain boron atoms which replace carbon
atoms in the crystal matrix, and also have high thermal conductivity.
Heat is a property contained in most materials, and has the tendency to
flow to areas of lesser heat. A substance that is a thermal insulator
reduced the flow of heat.
Diamonds are actually excellent conductors of heat, better than more
well-known heat conductors like copper or silver. Diamonds will
warm-up. It’s as if when we talk about a diamond’s “fire,” it can refer
to it figuratively as well as literally!
As much as we associate diamonds for their beauty and use as jewelry,
only about 20% of all diamonds mined are gem-quality. The rest are good
only for industrial uses. Because it’s the hardest substance, it’s used
to cut other materials such as stone, metal and concrete. It’s also
used to grind eyeglasses and computer chips.
Most industrial diamonds are mined, but scientists have successfully
engineered synthetic industrial diamonds that have more versatile uses
than mined diamonds. Now major companies like GE and even DeBeers make
synthetic diamonds. The primary use for these synthetic industrial
diamonds is to conduct heat away from devices that require a constant
temperature for safe and proper operation.
