World’s hardest diamond created in Japan
December 21, 2010
A collaboration between scientists at Ehime University and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd has resulted in what they believe is the world’s hardest artificial diamond.
Tough enough: What are believed to be the world’s hardest
artificial diamonds, created by Ehime University
researchers, are seen before and after they are cut.
(KYODO PHOTO)
As reported in The Japan Times, the research team led by Ehime University in Matsuyama City, Japan, has produced a cylindrical diamond measuring more than 1 cm in diameter and length.
Having jointly developed the diamond, called the ‘Hime’, with Osaka-based Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., the research team aims to commercialise the diamond as early as next year, said the university’s Tetsuo Irifune.
“When the type of diamond was first synthesized in 2003, it only measured about 1 mm in diameter, but using ultra high pressure synthesizing machinery since March 2009 made development of a larger diamond possible”, Irifune said.
“A large Hime diamond is useful for experiments to study the high pressure deep interior of the Earth. Also, as a product for industrial use its lifetime is several times longer than that of an ordinary diamond,” he said.
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