The development of the deposit containing superhard carbon material in the Popigai Crater will not be able to bring down the diamond market as this substance cannot be used in the jewelry industry, RIA Novosti was told by Academician Nikolai Pokhilenko, Director of the Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Earlier, some media reported that allegedly the "declassified" Popigai Field containing "superhard diamonds" could overturn the diamond market. Pokhilenko called the reports "idle speculation."
"These diamonds can make a revolution in the instrumental, stone-cutting and drilling industries, but they are unable to undermine the diamond market, because they have no relation to diamond jewelry at all, whereas the diamond market is dependent on rough diamonds," the academician said, adding that the field had been declassified in the early 1990s, and then this information caused no rush.
"The abrasive capacity of powders made of impact diamonds compared to synthetic diamonds and the best samples of natural diamond powders was two times higher, and some impact powders exceeded them 2.4 times," Pokhilenko said.
The study of the structure of this substance showed that it was very different from "normal" diamonds.
"It turned out that it was a very complex aggregate (combination of two different molecular structures) dominated by two phases, one of which is standard cubic diamond and the second is a hexagonal phase of carbon, called lonsdaleite. It is harder, it is denser than regular diamond, and it is formed at higher temperatures and pressures," he said.
"It is not a diamond at all. This phase (lonsdaleite) is 1.54 times harder than diamond, and since here we have nanosized crystallites of cubic diamond and lonsdaleite - it is a very sticky matrix that defines high characteristics of Popigai impactites. The lonsdaleite share in some specimens can reach 70%," Pokhilenko said.
He explained that the substance came into existence from graphite at the moment the Popigai meteorite hit the earth, when pressure reached 1.5 million atmospheres and temperature was about 3000°C.
According to him, the experts from the research center of Baker Hughes believe that if impact diamonds will have abrasive capacity higher at least by 20% compared to natural diamonds, then it would be "a revolution in the tool-making industry."
The director of the Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy said that scientists were soon to leave for a new expedition to the Popigai Basin.
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