Plasma pressure compaction of nanodiamond

Abstract

Detonation synthesized nanodiamond (ND) was sintered using a Plasma Pressure Compaction (P2C) technique. Sintering was performed for 1 min at temperatures between 700 and 1200 °C, and for 1-10 min at 900 °C under 65 MPa pressure. Structure and composition of the sintered samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Raman microspectroscopy. The selected sintering conditions prevent excessive graphitization of diamond and allow formation of porous pellets having the density of 1.3-1.6 g/cm3, hardness > 0.1 GPa and Young's modulus > 3 GPa. The sintered ND pellets with porosity of about 50% have mechanical properties sufficient for handling and can be infiltrated to produce ND composites.