Cluster mechanism of formation of micropolycrystalline diamond aggregates

The structure of micropolycrystalline aggregates of the carbonado and ballas types determines their strength properties. The authors of [1, 2, and others] focused attention on the porous structure of natural and synthetic micropolycrystalline diamond aggregates. In some cases, pores can be lled with different phases (syngenetic and/or epigenetic). In other cases, they are empty. The strength characteristics of diamond aggregates can be inuenced by a comparatively low dislocation density of diamond crystallites [3] and the second phase (inclusions of crystal-forming medium), which is more elastic than diamond and can play the role of absorber of dynamic loads [4]. This puts forward the problem of investigating the mechanism of formation of micropolycrystalline aggregates based on the example of the graphite + metal-catalyst model system depending on the thermodynamic parameters and physicochemical state of the medium.