FABRICATION OF ULTRAFINE POLYCRYSTALLINE DIAMOND WITH NANO-SIZED GRAIN GROWTH INHIBITOR

• Main Authors: HORMAN SCOTT, BAO YAHUA, YAO XIAN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 31.05.2012
• Subjects: ALLOYS; ARTIFICIAL STONE; CEMENTS; CERAMICS; CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOIDCHEMISTRY; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF, e.g. MORTARS, CONCRETE OR LIKE BUILDINGMATERIALS; CONCRETE; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; GRINDING; LIME, MAGNESIA; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; METALLURGY; NANOTECHNOLOGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; POLISHING; REFRACTORIES; SLAG; SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS; TOOLS FOR GRINDING, BUFFING, OR SHARPENING; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS; TREATMENT OF NATURAL STONE

The present disclosure relates to the formation of polycrystalline diamond materials with fine diamond grains and nano-sized particles of a grain growth inhibitor. In one embodiment, a method of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond material is provided. The method includes providing a mixture of diamond particles with an average particle size of about 1 micron or less, distributing a plurality of nano-sized titanium-containing particles with the diamond mixture, to act as a grain growth inhibitor, and sintering the mixture of diamond particles and titanium-containing particles at high pressure and high temperature to create a polycrystalline structure of sintered diamond grains. The sintered diamond grains have an average size of about 1 micron or less.