I just saw something on the news about being able to produce man-made diamond. The story was about new lines of jewelry, but diamonds have a melting point twice that of titanium metal (4000K compared to about 2000K). They're the hardest material known to man, and I can't help but wonder the tensile, compression, shear properties, etc of diamond. I was thinking either diamond in sheets for armor (vests or an outfitting over today's tank armor). Or maybe even coat spacecraft using aerobreaking. I'm not sure of the thermodynamics, but I'd think diamond with it's stronger bonds would transfer heat alot quicker.

Basically, if we could, would diamond make an awesome building material? Or is there a catch...

Was that the show about the yellow synthetic diamonds?
Excellent.

Not much use for that stuff I know of except jewelry and as an abrasive.

More promise in Diamond Film Technology (http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=Japan%20diamond%20film)

Diamond is very brittle. Carbon nanotubes are a diamond-like material with excellent structural properties, theoretically, but it's still difficult to manufacture long strands of it. An armored vest from carbon nanotubes would be stronger than kevlar. For spacecraft applications, you should know that diamond is flammable, so don't cover your spacecraft with it just yet. I also heard recently that there might be planets with kilometer thick layers of diamond. I wonder if there would ever be a diamond asteroid.

good to know, lol

I read in a discover once that it rais dimonds on neptune. This suspiciously reminds me of Neil Stephenson's "Diamond Age".

Spidergoat has correctly identified the one major problem with diamond - it cannot handle impact load very well.
A major application of synthetic diamond is in the oil and gas drilling industry. About half the footage drilled today is drilled with bits whose active cutting elements are cutters faced with synthetic polycrystaline diamond. These have transformed the economy of drilling because of their greater durability and faster drilling rates. Individual bits cost up to $100,000, are generally used once or twice, then discarded.

I also heard recently that there might be planets with kilometer thick layers of diamond. I wonder if there would ever be a diamond asteroid. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/huge_diamond_space.html?1322004
BPM 37093 is a 4,000 kilometer wide diamond.

I just saw something on the news about being able to produce man-made diamond. The story was about new lines of jewelry, but diamonds have a melting point twice that of titanium metal (4000K compared to about 2000K). They're the hardest material known to man, and I can't help but wonder the tensile, compression, shear properties, etc of diamond. I was thinking either diamond in sheets for armor (vests or an outfitting over today's tank armor). Or maybe even coat spacecraft using aerobreaking. I'm not sure of the thermodynamics, but I'd think diamond with it's stronger bonds would transfer heat alot quicker.

Basically, if we could, would diamond make an awesome building material? Or is there a catch...


diamond is the hardest but not the toughest by far. you could shatter a diamond crystal to bits with little effort with a hammer, but agates and jaspers and jade for instance youd have to apply serious effort to wreck similiarly. any mineral with a cleavage plane is going to be fragile. the " hardness" of a mineral referrs to how hard it is to scratch, rather than how difficult it is to damage