Synthetic Diamonds

[cquinn]

In the past week there were a couple of news stories about new methods
that have been developed to create artificials diamonds that are at
equal (to better) quality to their naturally mined counterparts.

What struck me from the news items was not so much the possibility of
offerring serious competition to the diamond brokers of the world; as
the potential these methods offer for technology.

What is being proposed now are methods of producing pure diamond
wafers for the semiconductor industry. But what occured to me was if
they can (in the future) produce enough synthetic diamond to create those
wafers in quantity, then they could probably do the same for disk
platters on future hard drives.

Anyone care to speculate on how this could enhance drive technology,
or other aspects of the industry?

 

[Clocker]

Yes, I wish I had time to read the whole article (or buy the mag) at the bookstore but I had to run:

THat's a pretty good use for some diamonds.

C

 

[jtr1962]

I'm not sure how much this develop affects disk technology, if at all. Drive platters are already coated with a very thin layer of carbon(i.e. diamond) for durability, and they're already priced at commodity levels. Pure diamond for drive platters may or may not be a good thing. Let's say for the sake of argument that this new development lets you produce very uniform diamond platters very cheaply. You still need to add the magnetic coating, format the platter, and test it. This is where the bulk of the costs are now anyway. Maybe drives will come out $10 cheaper. You still have the heads and drive electronics. Frankly, I'm amazed drives have gotten as cheap as they are.

Nevertheless, this is a great development. Anything that makes diamonds(or gold or oil) worthless is a good thing in my book. Maybe we'll see the end of the upper class flaunting their baubles as a status symbol, and the average person won't need to spend hundreds or more on an engagement ring for their significant other. I would personally like to see an age(perhaps ushered in by nanotechnology) where all material things are cheap to make and worth little more than the raw materials they come from. Besides allowing everyone to have benefits currently enjoyed by only the upper classes in industrialized nations, we'll see the end of materialism, and of fighting for scarce resources. Maybe we'll even have a society one day where money is of no value.

 

[Handruin]

I would love to see creative uses of diamonds if this news makes them more affordable. I don't foresee this type of diamond eating into the natural market; people will always want the "real thing".

I'm more interested in the other uses that can benefit from diamonds. What if they were so cheap, all of your cutting utensils were made from diamond? Think of the advancements in medical research or the use of artificial parts for the body. I'm guessing diamonds have one of the better wear-resistance (not to mention hardness) of any material on the planet, so why not use it for artificial hearts, or something else that has moving parts. (Diamond ball bearings?)

I'm not that interested in diamond platter hard drives, while interesting, I don't see that great of an advantage. I'd rather see them solid state so that we can rid ourselves of all these moving parts.

 

[Clocker]

The artilce talked about using diamond material to make microchips that can run at speeds that would melt chips make of current materials...

C

 

[Corvair]

Industrial diamonds have been slowly making their way into affordable products -- semi-affordable, at least.

I recently bought a diamond sharpening tool to speed up sharpening my various woodworking handtools (spokeshaves, drawknives, wood chisels).

 

[Santilli]

Diamond COMPANY: DE BEERS.

They have a monopoly on world diamond production, and, you can only buy what they will sell you, in a sealed envelope, IIRC, in England.
Everytime a new source, or a new way to make stuff comes up, they, just like the oil companies, protect their monopoly by buying it up, or killing off the people that have the idea, either figuratively, or literally.

Much as I like diamonds, I buy CZ's, for myself, etc.

Can't tell the difference, and don't have to insure em.

gs

 

[Howell]

I recently bought a diamond sharpening tool to speed up sharpening my various woodworking handtools (spokeshaves, drawknives, wood chisels).

You have wood working tools made from diamonds?

 

[Howell]

I'm guessing diamonds have one of the better wear-resistance (not to mention hardness) of any material on the planet, so why not use it for artificial hearts, or something else that has moving parts. (Diamond ball bearings?)

They say diamonds are so hard you can only use diamonds to sharpen them.

I imagine it would be difficult to make a rounded surface from diamond. Crystals tend to break in a plane and rounded surfaces are not made from planes.

However, since these diamonds are manufactured I guess it is possible that they could manufacture the new diamonds as spheres but I doubt they could be machined into spheres.

Especially with the revelation that the manufactured diamonds have fewer flaws, I see an application in holography.

 

[fool]

I recently bought a diamond sharpening tool to speed up sharpening my various woodworking handtools (spokeshaves, drawknives, wood chisels).

You have wood working tools made from diamonds?

I think Corvair meant the shapening block, like a whetstone, only the surface would be lots of tiny little diamonds. That basically what I use on my cooking knifes, (gets them sharp enough to cut through a tomato without any crushing under the kinfes own weight).