Rapid sintering of nano-diamond compacts

Diamond compacts were sintered from nano-size diamond crystals at high pressure, 8 GPa, and temperature above 1500 °C for very short times ranging from 5 to 11 s. Structure and mechanical properties of the compacts have been characterized. Although we have not completely avoided graphitization of diamonds, the amount of graphite produced was low, less than 2%, and despite relatively high porosity, the compacts were characterized by high hardness, bulk and Young moduli.