What are the most common uses for quartz?

Quartz is the most abundant and widely distributed mineral found at Earth's surface. It is present and plentiful in all parts of the world. It forms at all temperatures.China Quartz Crystal Tuning Forks Manufacturers

Jewelry- Quartz comes in a variety of colors and is named accordingly. Citrine, amethyst, ametrine, and opal are precious or semi-precious gemstones prized for their color and durability.

Glass Manufacturing- High quartz content sand is used in the glass making industry. Quartz sand is the central component of container glass, flat plate glass, specialty glass, and fiberglass. Quartz is used to create lenses for eye wear, telescopes, microscopes, prisms, sensors, and other electronic and scientific instruments.

Watch Industry- The quartz watch revolution begun by Seiko in 1970 uses the unique piezoelectric property of quartz for time keeping. Quartz crystals under stress will produce a charge and quartz crystals subjected to a charge will vibrate at precise frequencies. A quartz crystal (precisely cut and shaped like a tuning fork) oscillate (vibrate) 32768 times per second. The first quartz oscillator was built in 1920.

Foundry Material- Quartz has a higher melting point than most metals which makes it ideal for the molds and cores of common foundry work. Refractory bricks are often made of quartz sand because of its high heat resistance. Quartz sand is also used as a flux in the smelting of metals.

Construction- Sandstone is a common building material used by the ancient Egyptians and in modern high rise office buildings as strong blocks and decorative tiles. Quartz sand is an integral component in cement. It is also used for traction on roadways and railroads. It is a filler used in the manufacturing of paints, rubber and putty.

Abrasive- The high hardness of quartz, seven on the Mohs Scale, makes it harder than most other natural substances. As such it is an excellent abrasive material. Quartz sands and finely ground silica sand are used for sand blasting, scouring cleansers, grinding media, and grit for sanding and sawing.

Petroleum Industry- Sand is a key ingredient to hydraulic fracturing. Sand is mixed with water to form a slurry which is then pumped at high pressure to form fractures in reservoir rocks, and the sandy slurry lodges into the fractured rock. The durable sand grains hold the fractures open. These open fractures facilitate the flow of natural gas into the well bore.

There is a high demand for precision quarts crystals in industry. Today, most of the quartz crystals used in electronic components and optical instruments are grown in laboratories instead of produced from mines. Most of the laboratories grow their crystals using methods based upon the geological process of hydrothermal activity. The synthetic crystals are grown at high temperatures from superheated waters that are rich in dissolved silica. These manufactured crystals can be grown in shapes, sizes and colors that match the needs of manufacturing processes.