This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a proprietary technology to enhance the crushing strength of industrial diamonds by 30-40%. If successful, the project will result in a new process which will allow the treatment of large numbers of industrial diamonds at once. The intellectual merit includes a better understanding of diamond crystal lattice structure, formation of diamond residual stresses, and crystal imperfection caused by extrinsic, intrinsic, and crystal symmetry defects inside diamonds. This project will also enhance our understanding of material embrittlement caused by nanoscale structural change. Last but not least, this research could develop more knowledge on diamond crushing strength and technologies for improving diamond strength.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be significant in the diamond production industry. In 2011, the world production of industrial diamonds exceeded five billion carats. This technology will allow the enhancement of properties of low- and medium-strength diamonds, with a potential added value of over $5 billion. The proposed technology will also have a strong impact on cutting and grinding tools, which are critical to the semiconductor, automotive, aerospace, surgical instrument, machinery, oil and gas, and construction industries. Within these sectors, stone cutting and highway building/repair account for the largest sources of demand for industrial diamond. Additionally, every automobile manufactured in the United States contains an average of 1.5 carats of diamond.
The objective of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is to enhance strength of industrial diamond powders by addressing the problem that some diamonds are less strong than some other diamonds, caused by their internal defects rather than crystal orientation. As over 50 billion carats of industrial diamond powders were consumed in 2012, any meaningful improvement in diamond strength would greatly impact the diamond tool industries and diamond manufacturer. To achieve the objective, four tasks were created and accomplished in the Phase I research; a proprietary technology to enhance crushing strength of industrial diamonds was developed. Through numerical modeling and experimental tests, we learned many critical techniques for effectively enhancing diamond strength in the Phase I research. We also established desirable experimental parameters from test data. Two patents were filed as the result of this research. The intellectual merits include better understanding of diamond crystal lattice structure, formation of diamond residual stresses, and crystal imperfection caused by extrinsic, intrinsic, and crystal symmetry defects inside diamonds, to name a few, they are N-V center?N-V0, N-V-), one of the numerous point defects in diamond with an isolated nitrogen atom sitting next to a vacant site in the lattice; R1 and O3 center, a form of carbon di-interstitials; R2 center - two carbon atoms share a lattice site and are covalently bonded with the carbon neighbors, inclusion of boron, phosphorus, nitrogen-oxygen complexes, cobalt, substitutional Ni, nickel-vacancy, nickel-vacancy complex, NE4 center, Si-vacancy complex, dislocations (glide set, shuffle set), platelets, and voidites. This project will also enhance our understanding of material embrittlement caused by nano-scaled structural change. Last but not least, this research could develop more knowledge on diamond crushing strength and technologies for improving diamond strength. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project to the diamond production industries is significant. In 2012, the world production of industrial diamond exceeded 5 billion carats, if our technology is successfully employed, the low-strength diamond could be enhanced to medium strength and their medium strength diamond could be improved to high-strength, which would be over $5 billion dollar increase in market value. The proposed technology will also have strong impact to the diamond tool industries, which are widely used in computer chip production, automotive, aerospace, surgical instrument, machinery manufacturing, oil and gas drilling, stone cutting, highway building/repair, and construction industries. Within these sectors, stone cutting and highway building/repair together made up the largest demand for industrial diamond. The manufacture of every automobile made in the United States consumes 1.5 carats of diamond.
