What Liquid Is In Diamond Sprays?

[tomhosang]

Hey guys! I just bought some 1 micron diamond powder to make some of my own diamond sprays. I was wondering what the liquid is. Is it just water? Or is it a super lightweight oil like mineral oil? Thanks!

 

[eKretz]

Some use deionized water, some use a very light oil. It depends on your process. For what you want to do, deionized water is the way to go.

 

[tomhosang]

So, I have a quick question. If I used normal water instead of deionized water, what would that change?

 

[Mo2]

So, I have a quick question. If I used normal water instead of deionized water, what would that change?

I believe that you have to use deionized else the diamonds will clump. I forget though. Don't quote me on that.

 

[Mo2]

I had to remember why.
http://www.handamerican.com/compoundnotes.html

One of the major factors we considered was the fact that ions in water will create an electrical charge and cause the individual diamond particles to cling together. First, the water must be purified and then de ionized. Given that it is not possible to completely de ionize water an element must be added to the slurry that will create a positive charge among the particles which prevents them from joining or clumping together.

...

The purified water used by our lab is de ionized to 17.5 megohns. Water is considered de ionized at 18 megohns.

And for leather they use something specific for leather conditioning.

The challenges when creating formulas for our general compounds included finding emollients that would work with leather and keep it supple. while our honing leather is tanned to our specs and should be used bare, people still like to spread our compound on it, so water in the mix was out of the question.