Quantitative analysis of synthetic diamond by X-ray diffraction

Abstract

Diamonds are non-reactive material, have excellent physical and chemical properties and have a large number of applications ranging from cutting and grinding to high technology applications. Compositional analysis is, therefore, important as it affects the properties and suitability for applications. Quantitative analysis of synthetic diamond powder has been carried out by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The crystalline phases identified were diamond, corundum and silicon carbide and these were quantified by Rietveld refinement of the XRD profile. Correlation of the quantitative results by XRD and chemical analysis brought out some interesting results such as presence of amorphous material in the sample and that silicon is present not only as silicon carbide but also in other forms.