A new type of synthetic industrial diamond formed by an explosive shock process has been recently developed by the Du Pont Company. This material consists of a mixture of two basically different forms, as shown in Figure 1: relatively flat and compact aggregates of acicular crystallites, and single crystals in the form of irregular polyhedra with straight edges.Figure 2 is a high magnification micrograph typical for the fibrous aggregates; it shows that they are composed of bundles of crystallites 0.05-0.3 μ long and 0.02 μ. wide. The selected area diffraction diagram (insert in Figure 2) consists of a weak polycrystalline ring pattern and a strong texture pattern with arc reflections. The latter results from crystals having preferred orientation, which shows that in a given particle most fibrils have a similar orientation.
EFFECT OF VARYING REDUCTION ON THE PREFERRED ORIENTATION IN ROLLED URANIUM RODS. Final Report