Diamond Facts

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Diamond is a unique, natural material.
It exhibits properties that are extremely useful in creating effective cutting tools.
Here are just a few facts about what makes diamond so unique:

  • It is solid, crystalline carbon, arranged in a structure known as diamond cubic

  • Diamond is the hardest known natural substance

  • Very abrasion resistant

  • Can be lapped and polished to extremely sharp cutting edges

  • Stiffest known natural material with Young’s Modulus values ranging between 1050 GPa - 1210 GPa

  • Material with the highest thermal conductivity, up to 5x higher than silver

  • Anisotropic physical properties

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Chardon Tool starts with whole, natural diamonds but we also use single crystal, synthetic diamonds created in 2 distinct methods.
The first are called HPHT, or high-pressure, high-temperature, diamonds.
Here are some facts about the HPHT synthetic diamonds we use:

  • HPHT diamonds are real diamonds that have the same properties as natural diamonds

  • Grown in a factory under high pressure, high temperature conditions

  • Formed in a manner similar to natural diamonds but with better-controlled, stable conditions
Additionally, we use single crystal diamonds created through the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method.
Here are some facts about chemical vapor deposition (CVD) formed diamonds:

  • CVD diamonds are real diamonds that have the same properties as natural diamonds

  • Grown in a factory under moderate pressure and temperature conditions

  • Edge lengths can be up to 15mm

Though they share many similar properties, there are differences between these 3 diamond types.
Here is a sample of those differences:

  • CVD diamond is the most consistent, then HPHT, then natural diamond

  • Natural diamond is the most expensive, then CVD, then HPHT

  • Natural diamond is the toughest, then HPHT, then CVD

  • CVD is transparent to infrared and ultraviolet light