Influence of Nanosecond Electromagnetic Pulses on the Structural Characteristics, Physico-Chemical and Technological Properties of Diamonds

摘要

To improve the existing diamond recovery process, the effect of high-power (high-voltage) nanosecond electromagnetic pulses (HPEMP) on the physical and technological properties of diamond crystals was studied. Infrared Fourier spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), microscopy, electroosmosis, and other methods were employed to examine the structural, chemical, electrical and physico-chemical changes in the surface properties of natural and synthetic diamonds as a result of pulsed energy impacts. The mechanism, stages (phases) of the composition changes in the functional surface layer, electrical, physico-chemical, and flotation properties of diamond crystals were identified. For the first time ever, it was experimentally demonstrated that the non-thermal action of high-voltage nanosecond pulses on natural diamonds causes the formation of microshift defects in the B2 crystalline lattice (platelets), whose elevated content, apparently, contributes to the higher strength of diamond crystals.