A method of modifying diamond for tool applications

摘要

A method is disclosed which comprises selecting a diamond material; irradiating the diamond material with electrons to increase toughness and/or wear resistance of the diamond material; and processing the diamond material into one or more diamond tool pieces, wherein the irradiating comprises controlling energy and dosage of irradiation to provide the diamond material with a plurality of isolated vacancy point defects, the isolated vacancy point defects having a concentration in a range 1 x 1014 to 1 x 1022 vacancies/cm-3.  Also disclosed is a tool piece incorporating an electron-irradiated diamond material.