Diamond industrial-grade

Warehouses are normally considered low risk occupancies unless high value or critical components are stored. Some high valve components normally overlooked in warehouses are diamond (industrial grade) studded drill bits or critical process control computer boards. In these cases the economic benefits of installing an automatic sprinkler system should be investigated. 

This discovery was significant because the pipes were not kimberlite, but a different type of volcanic rock called lamproite. One of the most productive diamond mines in the world, the Argyle mine with an ore that produces 400 carats of diamond per 100 tons, is a lamproite pipe. Albeit, the diamond is small and 90% is industrial grade. 

Today about 540 megacarat (1081) of industry-grade diamond are synthesized per year. In terms of cost per amount, the production of artificial diamond can easily compete with the hauling of natural material and so the first clearly surpasses the latter in the armual output Main supphers in 2003 have been Russia (16t), Ireland (121), South Africa (12t), Japan (6.8t), and Belarus (5t) (according to US Geological Survey)(Table 1.2). Recently, China entered the market on a large scale as well. 

The true flotation technique is described in Chapter 34. This technique is of tremendous importance industrially. Two examples are the removal of industrial grade diamonds from the surrounding granite and the concentration of taconite iron ore to an economically high percentage of iron. This can become quite involved. The surface of the solid particle must be made attractive to the gas bubble. This may require an activator on the surface to hold the collector that will then attract the gas bubble. Much chemistry is involved. 

In diamond, each carbon atom is bonded tetrahedrally to four other carbon atoms (T FIGURE 12.30). The structure of diamond can be derived from the zinc blende structure (Figure 12.27) if carbon atoms replace both the zinc and sulfide ions. The carbon atoms are sp -hybridized and held together by strong carbon-carbon single covalent bonds. The strength and directionality of these bonds make diamond the hardest known material. For this reason, industrial-grade diamonds are employed in saw blades... 

Diamonds from a mine are separated into gem-quality, near-gem-quality and industrial-grade diamonds. The diamonds are then grouped into sizes, big (more than 1 carat), small (between 1 and 0.1 carat) and sand (less than 0.1 carat). Diamonds larger than 15 carats are handled individually. The ultimate purpose of sorting is to estimate an asking price for the rough diamonds. 

Industrial-grade diamonds are used for a host of applications that exploit diamond s extreme hardness, wear resistance, and low coefficient of friction. These include diamond-tipped drill bits and saws, dies for wire drawing, and as abrasives used in cutting, grinding, and polishing equipment (Section 13.6). 

In the grading of diamond for industrial purposes, suitable whole stones are selected to be cleaned, cleaved, sawed, ground, drilled, or metal-... 

Natural industrial diamond is now limited to the low-grade (and cheaper) applications such as nail files, low-cost saw blades, and polishing compounds. 

In general, industrial HPHT synthesis of diamond produces crystals with size ranging from tens to hundreds of micrometers. Up to now, ordinary mechanical milling of as-grown HPHT diamond (20-50 pm) yields a very small and, thus, commercially expensive fraction of NDs. However, a powder of commercial-type lb-synthetic monocrystalline diamond fabricated for industrial polishing purposes can be used to produce monocrystalline material by crushing, purification, and precision grading to achieve a particle size distribution below 50 nm. ... 

There are currently a large number of manufacturers of industrial diamond and cBN worldwide, and the overall market for industrial superahrasives is approximately 1 hiUion U.S. per year and growing. Depending on size and grade, mesh and micron superahrasives sell for approximately 0.20 to 5.00 per carat (1 carat = 0.2 gram). 

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