Short DeBeers right now: scientists make diamonds at room temperature

[Recursion]

http://phys.org/news/2015-11-phase-carbon-diamond-room-temperature.html

Also, the idea of a carbon configuration being ferromagnetic is actually more interesting than cheap diamonds...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered a new phase of solid carbon, called Q-carbon, which is distinct from the known phases of graphite and diamond. They have also developed a technique for using Q-carbon to make diamond-related structures at room temperature and at ambient atmospheric pressure in air.

Phases are distinct forms of the same material. Graphite is one of the solid phases of carbon; diamond is another.

"We've now created a third solid phase of carbon," says Jay Narayan, the John C. Fan Distinguished Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State and lead author of three papers describing the work. "The only place it may be found in the natural world would be possibly in the core of some planets."

Q-carbon has some unusual characteristics. For one thing, it is ferromagnetic – which other solid forms of carbon are not.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. And there are also lots of uses for diamonds beyond just jewelry, of course.

Interesting stuff!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. Sci-fi is full of energy and data crystals.

[DetlefK]

3. DeBeers is keeping diamond-supplies from the open-market to keep prices high.

Btw, have you heard of "chocolate-diamonds"? They contain so many impurities that they are brown.

Most naturally occuring diamonds are actually brown diamonds. If you buy a diamond-tipped tool, that was made with brown diamonds. But DeBeers sells them as some kind of special novelty.

[Recursion]

9. Yeah, I worked with industrial diamonds in grad school

The entire supply chain is completely different. Even for ones without impurities (we were doing electromagnetic stuff so we needed no trace metals) you can get them cheaply from an "industrial" bourse rather than a jewelry bourse.

[bemildred]

4. I agree, ferromagnetic carbon is very interesting. nt

[Recursion]

16. Really, really, *really* interesting

If we could have an entirely carbon inductor, that opens up a lot of possibilities.

[bemildred]

18. It's lightwieght, and cheap, really cheap.

They are already using carbon fibers for superconduction, if you can use some such things to make coils and the like, it would be hard to predict what might be done ...



There is still some magic left in the world to discover.

[GummyBearz]

19. hmm

What type of possibilities? I work in high tech electronics, I've seen/heard some results of carbon nanotube inductors (which would be an all carbon inductor). Though the inductance values are obviously very small.

Is there an application in another area where all carbon electromagnets would be a huge break through?

[Recursion]

20. A non-conductive inductor?

Yes, think about that for a second and I think you'll see why that would be huge.

[GummyBearz]

21. Not for my applications

open circuits aren't really a good thing for me...

Which is why I was asking about different areas where they may be useful

[greymattermom]

5. they aren't worth what you think anyway

A store will see you a diamond for 10,000, but try to sell it back to them and it's only worth around 2,000. The real value is much lower than you think.

[Recursion]

8. I've bought industrial diamonds before; they're crazy cheap

The diamond bourses actually have an entirely different supply chain, without the output restrictions, for them. Diamonds aren't actually very rare; they're basically a different kind of coal.

[Recursion]

10. Also from an aesthetic standpoint I find them kind of boring. I much prefer rubies.

I like a stone with some color in it.

[Orrex]

6. These diamonds won't quenched in the blood and sorrow of slave laborers, though

And, really, isn't that what makes the cartels' diamonds so precious?

[Recursion]

7. The 80% of them they sit on in Gambian warehouses is more the issue

DeBeers is actually pretty straightforward about that, when asked: diamonds aren't particularly rare, but their appearance on the market is.

[Orrex]

14. I know---actually, I thought that everyone knew, but you make a good point

What a stupid market. If you stole $8,000 from somebody, they'd probably complain. But tell them that a $2,000 rock is worth $10,000, and they'll trip over themselves to empty their wallets for you.

[Half-Century Man]

11. Speculation

Combine this with a way to harvest carbon from the air? free raw materials?
Being ferromagnetic, can it be used as a material form 3-phase motors?
As this uses a pulsed laser onto nano sized powdered carbon, can it be built up in successive layers?
Have they just invented a 3-D printer in nano scale?

[Recursion]

13. I still haven't read the paper but there are some intriguing ideas there

If we can simultaneously sequester carbon and in that sequestration produce ICs, that's a huge, huge breakthrough.

[Half-Century Man]

17. Article mentions low level energy causes glowing of synthetic carbon material

Break through in fragility of fiber optic cables?

[paleotn]

12. ferromagnetic carbon. That is interesting. Thanks for sharing (nt)

[Recursion]

15. Yeah, I think that's ultimately the bigger story than diamonds

I'm going to read the paper once I get to the library (which has a subscription) tomorrow.