George I would be curious about your comments about the following developments (this is really nanotechnology which is the future!-- freep.com My limited research is that they have made incredible progress. Thanks.
unisci.com
Making Gem-Quality Diamonds With Man-Made Heat, Pressure
Scientists and engineers from the University of Florida and from Russia are speeding up Mother Nature's handiwork by creating gem-quality diamonds using man-made heat and pressure.
Employing what they describe as a remarkable new technology first developed in Russia, the research team has created yellow, amber, green and colorless diamonds as large as 1.6 carats since making their first attempt about a year ago.
The research, funded largely by a company that intends to sell what it calls "cultured diamonds" for jewelry, is leading to a better understanding of how to make diamonds and other crystals, not only for jewelry, but also for next-generation high-speed electronics.
"Our goal has been to understand the science and technology behind growing crystals," said Reza Abbaschian, chairman of the University of Florida's materials science and engineering department.
People have been able to make gem-quality diamonds since the 1960s, but the machines were huge and the cost exceeded that of mining natural diamonds, Abbaschian said. As a result, diamond research and manufacturing efforts have centered on producing industrial diamonds for cutting tools, abrasive materials or other uses.
In the 1980s, however, a team of Russian scientists in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk developed a small, high-pressure, high-temperature machine capable of making gem-quality diamonds at low cost.
About the size of a washing machine, the device starts with a carbon source and a shard of a real diamond called a "seed." The machine squeezes the seed with increasingly higher pressure, topping out at 850,000 pounds per square inch.
Other equipment heats the core to 2,000 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The high pressure and high temperatures transform the seed into a bigger diamond.
The machines require very little electricity and are not expensive to build, but the Russian researchers were unable to make them consistently produce diamonds of the same color or quality, Abbaschian said. That's where the University of Florida's research came in.
"Our objective has been to be able to control the process," said Abbaschian. "Once we control the processing parameters, we can modify them to get different results."
Since the team attempted to make its first diamond in one of five machines imported from Russia about a year ago, they have produced more than 230 gem-quality diamonds at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Though the largest so far is 1.6 carats, the machines theoretically should be capable of producing diamonds up to 5 carats, Abbaschian said. It takes about 50 hours to grow a one-carat diamond, he added.
Just like natural diamonds, the Florida-produced diamonds are 100 percent carbon and harder than any natural substance. A typical jeweler could not distinguish between real diamonds and the University of Florida diamonds, Abbaschian said. The only difference is at the atomic level: Real diamonds contain paired nitrogen atoms, while the man-made diamonds contain only single nitrogen atoms.
The Gemesis Corp., a small Florida company, plans to draw on the research to produce diamonds for jewelry at a facility in Gainesville, said Carter Clarke, chief executive officer.
"What Dr. Abbaschian and his crew have done is to turn this scientific endeavor into a commercially viable enterprise," said Clarke, an entrepreneur and retired U.S. Army general. "We know now that we can produce a quality, consistent product."
The research team hopes to take the project far beyond gem-quality diamonds. Abbaschian said diamonds with certain properties are highly effective semiconductors capable of operating at higher power and temperatures than traditional silicon semiconductors. Natural diamonds with such properties are extremely rare, and the Florida/Russian team hopes to use the machines to learn more about whether and how such diamonds might be created.
The University of Florida team members include Abbaschian; Rajiv Singh, a professor of materials science and engineering, and Robert Chodelka, a research faculty member. The Russian members are Alexander Novikov, Nikolay Patrin, Vasili Kacholov and Lidia Patrina.
news.24.com
Researchers making diamonds
Gainesville, Florida - Making diamonds isn't so rough.
Researchers from Russia and the University of Florida have been whipping up gem-quality diamonds using technology in a device about the size of a washing machine.
Working to enhance technology first developed in Russia, the team has created yellow, amber, green and colorless diamonds as large as 1.6 carats since their project began about a year ago.
The research, funded largely by The Gemesis Corp., which plans to sell what it calls "cultured diamonds" for jewelry, is leading to a better understanding of how to make diamonds and other crystals not only for jewelry, but also for use in high-speed electronics, researchers said.
"Our goal has been to understand the science and technology behind growing crystals," said Reza Abbaschian, chairman of UF's materials science and engineering department.
Gem-quality diamonds have been made since the 1960s. But the machines were inefficient, leading manufacturing efforts to center on producing industrial diamonds for cutting tools, abrasive materials or other uses.
In the 1980s, however, a team of Russian scientists developed a small, high-pressure, high-temperature machine capable of making low-cost, gem-quality diamonds.
The machines require very little electricity and are not expensive to build, but the Russian researchers were unable to make them consistently produce diamonds of the same color or quality, Abbaschian said.
That's where UF's research comes in.
Since importing five machines from Russia, the team has made more than 230 gem-quality diamonds. It takes about 50 hours to grow a one-carat diamond.
Like natural diamonds, the UF-produced diamonds are 100 percent carbon and harder than any natural substance. A typical jeweler could not distinguish between natural diamonds and the UF ones, Abbaschian said.
The Gemesis Corp. plans to draw on the research to produce diamonds for jewelry at a facility in Gainesville, said Carter Clarke, chief executive officer.
professionaljeweler.com
August 23, 1999
Man-Made Diamonds in Florida
Synthetic diamonds for use in jewelry are being made commercially in Florida and are scheduled to hit the market in the next two years. The man-made diamonds are produced using Russian technology, equipment and expertise.
The project is funded by Carter Clarke, a retired U.S. Army general, who runs Gemesis Corp., Gainesville, FL. "I have corralled the resources needed to make diamonds," he says. Those resources include researchers and materials science engineers from the University of Florida as well as a team of experienced Russian scientists from Novosibirsk now in living in Florida. Several Russian diamond presses have also been imported, Clarke says, and are being modified and perfected to produce consistent results. Well over 200 diamonds have been produced, some as large as 1.6 carats in yellow, brownish yellow, colorless and green.
Clarke says he is importing another 200 presses for Gemesis Corp. that should be running next year. He says this initial investment is capable of producing 20,000 to 24,000 carats annually. It's too early to discuss price points, he says, but he is investigating several methods of distribution, including the Internet, wholesale or retail.
Clarke plans to market his product as cultured diamond and says he is unaware of any Federal Trade Commission infringements using the term. Clarke does not like the term synthetic, saying it has a negative connotation. "The FTC clearly says that these diamonds should be sold with a qualification," he reasons. "The word cultured is our qualification." Clarke also says he has had extensive discussions with De Beers scientists and attended the Gemological Institute of America's Symposium to better acquaint himself with issues in the trade.
- by Robert Weldon, G.G. |
