THE POLISHING OF DIAMOND

Experiments on the analysis of the wear debris produced during the pol ishing of diamond and the rapid sliding of diamond upon diamond using a high-speed sliding machine are presented. The debris was studied by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in a scanning transmission el ectron microscope (STEM) and by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) . The aim of the work was to improve understanding of the polishing pr ocess. It was found that the debris produced when polishing diamond in a (100) direction on a (100) plane consisted of less dense forms of c arbon. Diamond debris was instead found in the experiment with the hig h-speed sliding machine, but the wear track showed markedly different features from those observed on a surface after conventional polishing . The results suggest that the polishing of diamond in the soft direct ions occurs by a process in which diamond transforms to less dense for ms of carbon, after which the transformed material detaches.