Quartz is an engineered stone, as it comes with many advantages, like durability, ease of maintenance, countless color and style options it offers, and more. Besides, quartz has many applications and uses. If you wish to use quartz for your design, you should definitely know how to utilize it.
Read our article to learn everything you need to know about quartz applications and uses.
What is quartz?
Quartz is a mineral made up of silicon and oxygen atoms. It is very hard, durable, and one of the earth’s most popular and abundant stones.
Pure quartz is clear or has a whitish color, but other mixed minerals can create different colors such as brown, purple, gray, green, red, yellow, and orange, and sometimes it can even be multicolored.
Quartz is formed through a geological process that involves high pressures and temperatures—the temperature and pressure changes cause the atoms to rearrange into a quartz structure which forms the crystals. The specific conditions under which the crystal is formed play a huge role in determining quartz’s color, clarity, and variation.
What are the benefits of quartz?
Quartz is beloved not only because of its aesthetic properties but also for its wide range of applications. As it is an incredibly hard and durable material, quartz is often used in home improvement projects such as countertops, islands, backsplashes, flooring, and more.
Its durability makes it a perfect candidate to be used in rooms that are often quickest to get damaged due to heat and moisture, such as the kitchen and bathrooms. Moreover, it has piezoelectric properties, meaning it can be used to generate electricity under pressure.
In addition, some people believe that quartz has metaphysical healing abilities. The belief is that it can hold, possess, and amplify energy, cleanse negative energy, and balance the state of the person holding it.
Therefore, it has become a very popular choice during practices such as meditation, as it promotes emotional stability, clear thoughts, and spiritual growth.
Check out here for more information regarding the benefits of quartz
Quartz Applications
Thanks to the abundance, durability, and thermal quality, there are many quartz applications and uses. Here are some of those applications.
1. Jewelry
Arguably, gemstones and jewelry are one of the most popular usages of quartz. It has been used for this purpose for centuries as it has a hard, shiny, and polishable surface.
Furthermore, it has many variations and colors. Therefore, it can cast a wider net of aesthetic preferences.
Some of the most popular variations of quartz are citrine rose quartz, smoky quartz, amethyst citrine, milky quartz, and so much more. This wide variety of quartz options makes it versatile and accessible.
2. Home Improvement
If gemstones and jewelry making are one of the most popular usages of quartz, then kitchen and bathroom countertops would be the other ones. Raw quartz is mixed with resin and pigments to create engineered quartz slabs which are later used as countertops, tiles, backsplashes, islands, and more.
This mixture allows quartz to be highly resistant to liquids and bacteria.
The different colors and patterns also present themselves as a huge advantage, as quartz can seamlessly blend and fit into every interior design style. Its timeless yet modern appearance will elevate whichever space it is installed in.
As quartz is mixed with resin to create engineered quartz, it becomes non-porous. This means it is resistant to stains and makes cleaning much easier. This low maintenance and attractive beauty make it one of the top choices among interior designers and homeowners.
3. Glassmaking
Glass is made from a chemical compound named Silica dioxide. This is a colorless and crystalline compound that can be found in quartz. The purest form of silica dioxide can be melted and can be cooled into the desired shape or size. Glassware is one of the primary uses of quartz. It can be used to make plates, bottles, containers, and more.
The glassware industry is one of the primary consumers of quartz. Moreover, optical-based quartz can manufacture telescoped microscopes, sensors, and other scientific tools.
4. Watches and Clocks
Quartz has the unique ability to vibrate at precise frequencies, which helps regulate the movement of the timepiece and make it accurate. As mentioned before, quartz can produce electricity when subjected to stress (piezoelectric effect).
Therefore, it can keep time.
5. Petroleum
Silica sand is used as a portal for natural gas to pass through during a process called hydraulic fracturing. A bedrock is put under immense pressure and forms a fracture. Afterward, silica sand, water, and some other chemicals are pushed into this fracture so that the fracture doesn’t close up once the pressure is released.
After this process, there is an opening made up of materials that can allow the gas to pass through, and it has turned into a well.
6. Metal casting
Quartz sand can be mixed with materials such as clay, resin, and oil for molding and casting. The remarkable properties of quartz, such as high heat and strength durability, meaning it can withstand molten metal. Furthermore, as it is so strong, quartz is ground into microscopic pieces and used to smooth out the edges of metals.
As mentioned before, although raw quartz is clear or white, it can have other colors mixed with other metals and impurities.
This process comes in very handy because quartz sand is used for metals to remove any possible impurities that they can have. Afterward, the quartz sand, which has absorbed the impurity, is removed from the metal, leaving it pure.
7. Electronics
Similar to how quartz is used in watches and clocks, it is also used in other electronics as it can generate current on its surface if compressed. Quartz has long been used to give radio transmitters, receivers, GPS transmitters, and computers the right frequency.
This ability to generate the accurate frequency is caused by its inability to be affected by most solvents and hold its crystalline form up to very high temperatures.
8. Filler
Ground-up powder quartz and quartz sand are used as a filler in manufacturing items such as paint, rubber, adhesives, and putty. Adding quartz to the mixture adds strength, resistance, and durability to the manufactured item.
9. Ceramics
Quartz can be used in making ceramic tiles. As it contains silica, it can provide the white color and help in giving it the body and structure it needs.
10. Synthetic crystals
Synthetic crystals are made in labs through the process of dissolving pure silicon dioxide at a high temperature. This is a slow process that provides high-quality crystals. These crystals are almost as high quality as natural quartz crystals.
They are resistant to acids, high temperatures, wear and tear, compression, bending, and corrosion. These synthetic crystals are used in many industries, such as electronics, solar, and lithographic industries.
11. Lamps and heaters
Quartz heat lamps are lamps that use quartz tubes as sealants. As it stays stable against high temperatures, it is an ideal material for heat conductors. It can also use infrared radiation to transfer the heat instead of heating the air around it.
These types of heaters are commonly used in outdoor settings such as patios because convection heat is not practical as the heated air can’t be insulated.
12. Insulation
Quartz is non-flammable. Therefore, it is a very suitable material to use for insulation purposes. Quartz fibers are formed into wool, which creates different insulation products.
The same wool can be used to filter high-temperature gases and can be made into different varieties of coarseness, such as ultra-fine and thick.
13. Labware
Quartz is a very hard material; it is non-reactive to most substances and is impenetrable against most gasses. These qualities make it ideal to use in labs as glassware. Quartz can be used to make transparent vessels and used as equipment, such as tubes, rods, flasks, beakers, and more.
These are usually called quartz ware. They can also be formed into porous filters through bonding quartz glass grains.
Conclusion
Quartz possesses a variety of qualities that make it highly useful in different sectors and industries, such as its high heat tolerance and electric properties. Its physical strength allows it to be used in brickmaking; its aesthetic attractiveness allows it to be employed in gemstone and jewelry making.
It can be used in glass making thanks to its abundance. In short, quartz is a very flexible and useful material that can be used in many different ways and forms.
FAQ
What type of rock is quartz?
Quartz is a mineral, not a rock. It is comprised of silicon dioxide. It is a very abundant material on Earth, can be found in various colors, and has a crystalline structure. It is used in a wide variety of industries thanks to its durability and hardness.
What is quartz crystal good for?
Quartz is good for many different uses. They are versatile and can be used in jewelry, electronics, healing practices, scientific research, and decoration.
Related Read: How Is Granite Formed?
