Can You Make Diamonds With a Hydraulic Press?

Diamonds may be hard, but even they can be broken by enough force. A recent video posted to YouTube by Hydraulic Press Channel shows one such attempt when an 1.2-carat diamond was crushed using hydraulic press technology.

This channel is known for its videos of objects being crushed, but this particular clip stands out. Watching a $4,000 diamond turn into dust so quickly is worth your while!

Hardness

Diamonds are among the hardest natural materials known to man, measured on a scale known as Mohs' scale in honor of its inventor, Friedrich Mohs. This scale ranks minerals from 1-10 according to how easily they can be scratched by other materials; diamonds rate 10 on this scale; their hardness means 40 times harder than anything in category 9. As with most things on this list, the higher up it goes on this chart, the more hard and durable a mineral becomes.

Diamond is extremely hard and durable material; however, it isn't bulletproof. When hit by a hammer it will fracture into small pieces due to fracture resistance rather than its tensile or compressive strength properties - the latter of which refers to stress before breaking.

The hardness of diamond is determined by the distance between adjacent atoms in its crystal lattice structure, such as those within its lattice lattice. If these atoms are closer together, then the harder its mineral becomes. Furthermore, this hardness differs in different directions; for instance kyanite has an overall hardness of 5 1/2 when tested along its length but only 7 when crosswise tested.

To produce a diamond, high pressure must be applied to carbon in which it grows. This pressure needs to remain constant so the diamond can grow evenly; additionally, this process must meet strict conditions; any deviation from these may lead to its creation stopping altogether or becoming heavily included.

Although many believe diamonds to be the strongest natural substance on Earth, they're actually not. While diamonds might look strong at first glance, their lack of tensile strength means they aren't the strongest stones; their lack of strength means that other stones outshone them by far in terms of Rockwell hardness testing which measures force needed to push an object against something solid; as harder the mineral, the higher its Rockwell hardness number will be.

Tensile strength

Diamonds may be considered one of the hardest materials, but that doesn't mean they cannot be broken apart by pressure. Hydraulic Press Channel's popular YouTube video showed us just that by subjecting a beautiful diamond to enough pressure. Their video featured a 1.2 carat diamond being crushed using a hydraulic press with over 10,000 PSI of pressure exerted upon it - more than enough pressure to render the jewel dusty.

Tensile strength measures the maximum stress a material can withstand before breaking. It is calculated as the force divided by its original cross-sectional area and typically measured in pounds per square inch (psi). Tensile strength varies according to material's chemical composition and bonding between atoms; some metals such as titanium can increase tensile strength by tempering (heating and cooling the material to change its physical properties).

Under tension, materials deform elastically before plastically. Deformation may be reversible; however, once they reach their tensile strength limit they may eventually fail and break.

Stress forces that fall below a material's tensile strength are typically removed without impact to its shape or size. As soon as stress reaches the material's limit, however, plastic flow begins and it stretches rapidly inward into an inconstricted region called a neck before eventually cracking or snapping apart completely.

Diamonds are made up of carbon atoms bonded together tightly. Their strength depends on both their number in their crystal structure, as well as how strongly they're bound, plus temperature and pressure conditions during formation.

The diamond production process utilizes a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) machine that replicates conditions found deep within Earth, where natural diamonds exist. This can produce different quality grades - including industrial and gem grade diamonds - with HPHT systems featuring multiple anvils that can be adjusted in multiple ways to create various shapes.

Elastic modulus

Diamonds are one of the hardest materials on Earth, yet they can still be crushed using a hydraulic press. In this video from Hydraulic Press Channel, a 1.2 carat diamond was crushed into dust instantly by this hydraulic press with 10,000 PSI force exerted upon it. While diamonds are resilient materials, even they couldn't resist being subjected to such immense force!

To comprehend the forces required to crush a diamond, it's helpful to gain a better understanding of elastic modulus - an indicator of material stiffness that measures stress to strain ratio. You can calculate it either by finding its slope in stress-strain curve or via mathematical formula.

The elastic modulus of diamond depends on its atomic bonding structure. Polycrystalline diamond has lower elastic moduli due to smaller carbon ionic radius and stronger bonds; as a result, polycrystalline diamond is more brittle and less stiff than single crystal diamond.

People often confuse "hardness" and "strength". Hardness refers to a surface property of materials; strength refers to how easily they can be scratched; in comparison, diamonds are generally quite hard; however they don't stand up well against compressive or tensile stress and often chip when dropped on hard floors - such as marble flooring!

Growing diamonds requires meticulous temperature and pressure control, which must be strictly maintained in order for it to successfully produce gem-quality gems of any size larger than several carats. Any deviation in these conditions can cause the diamond growth process to stop altogether or become heavily included, severely restricting usable size - one reason it can be challenging to grow natural diamonds larger than a few carats.

Calculating the Elastic Modulus of a diamond requires measuring force of deformation divided by change in dimension. This key measurement plays an integral part in designing structures, providing us with information on material behavior under load as well as providing comparison between various materials.

Scratch resistance

Diamonds may be considered one of the hardest materials, yet they still can be damaged under pressure or from sudden impacts. Knowing the difference between tensile strength and rupture toughness will allow you to better protect your diamond from being damaged in any way.

Diamond's scratch resistance is determined by its crystal structure. A diamond's carbon atoms are joined together with covalent bonds - one of the strongest types of atomic bonds - by high temperatures and intense pressure deep in Earth's mantle, creating it into something very hard. They cannot be scratched by any mineral on Mohs scale but may become weaken over time from being scratched from hard objects.

There are various methods of testing the scratch resistance of diamonds. One straightforward test involves placing it in a glass of water; genuine stones will sink to the bottom while fake ones float above. Another effective test uses a mirror; genuine diamonds should have clear reflection while fakes may produce more cloudy reflections.

Even though diamonds are highly resilient, they can still be crushed using a hydraulic press. This is especially true when the diamond was created in a lab environment. In this video clip provided to Hydraulic Press Channel by Donor, 1.2 carat diamond donated and destroyed within seconds! It has since been watched over 11 Million times!

Although diamond has one of the highest tensile strengths among natural materials, its strength can still be broken by other minerals with lower tensile strength; such as tungsten which has less of an impact than diamond but remains far stronger than iron.