A study of the temperature and stoichiometry dependence of diamond synthesis in low pressure premixed acetylene-oxygen flames is presented. A specially designed low pressure flat flame operating at 40 Torr is employed to deposit diamond films uniformly over areas of at least 2 cm2. Under optimized conditions of substrate temperatures and flame equivalence ratios, high quality translucent diamond that is well faceted is synthesized exhibiting first-order Raman fullwidths (half maximum) of about 2.5 cm−1. Diamond growth rates under these optimum conditions are approximately 4 μm/h. The film growth rate is found to drop off substantially at high substrate temperatures, with little or no carbon deposited beyond a temperature of 1070 °C. The growth behavior in response to changes in flame equivalence ratio and substrate temperature is discussed in terms of the possible role that oxygen-containing species may have on surface chemistry. The results described here are also used to project a base cost for manufacturing diamond under these process conditions.

Highly oriented diamond film was grown on a (100) Si substrate by a bias-enhanced microwave-plasma chemical vapor deposition. The Si surface was carburized at a faster rate by bias treatment than by carburization alone, but the initial carburization stage was indispensable. During the bias treatment, the flat surface was changed to a textured structure on the nanometer scale. The formation of this structure was required for the synthesis of a highly oriented diamond film. Diamond microcrystals formed subsequently were irregular and of a few to a few tens nanometers in size. They then grew to oriented film in the following growth process.

The efficacy of various non-diamond carbon films as precursors for diamond nucleation on unscratched silicon substrates was investigated with a conventional microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. Silicon substrates were partially coated with various carbonaceous substances such as clusters consisting of a mixture of C60 and C70, evaporated films of carbon and pure C70, and hard carbon produced by a vacuum are deposition technique. For comparison, diamond nucleation on silicon substrates coated with submicrometer-sized diamond particles and uncoated smooth silicon surfaces was also examined under similar conditions. Except for evaporated carbon films, significantly higher diamond nucleation densities were obtained by subjecting the carbon-coated substrates to a low-temperature high-methane concentration hydrogen plasma treatment prior to diamond nucleation. The highest nucleation density (∼3 × 108 cm−2) was obtained with hard carbon films. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the diamond nucleation density increased with the film thickness and etching resistance. The higher diamond nucleation density obtained with the vacuum are-deposited carbon films may be attributed to the inherent high etching resistance, presumably resulting from the high content of sp3 atomic bonds. Microscopy observations suggested that diamond nucleation in the presence of non-diamond carbon deposits resulted from carbon layers generated under the pretreatment conditions.

Microtexture dependence of diamond transition in starting graphite materials under shock compression was examined, taking account of two critical points. (i) As the starting materials, several different graphite materials, each of which possesses homogeneous microtexture throughout the material, were used. (ii) In order to distinguish the effect of the microtexture from that of other external conditions, an advanced technique that made the pressure-temperature condition common for the individual materials was developed. Four graphite materials, a glassy carbon, two types of carbon black, and artificial graphite foil, were selected and characterized in detail by x-ray diffractometry, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) prior to the shock loading. Shock compressions were performed for the materials, changes in the microtexture and transformed products of the recovered samples were characterized by TEM and EELS, and the effect of the microtexture on the transition to diamond was also discussed.

The behavior of screw dislocations dynamically emitted from the tip of a surface crack during loading and unloading has been investigated using a discrete dislocation model. The critical stress intensity factor at the crack tip for dislocation emission is a function of friction stress, core radius of dislocation, and dislocations near the crack tip. During motion, the velocity of dislocation is assumed to be proportional to the effective shear stress to the third power. The effect of crack length and friction stress on dislocation distributions, plastic zone, and dislocation-free zone during loading and unloading was examined.

Polycarbonate (LexanTM) (PC) was implanted with 2 MeV B+ and O+ ions separately to fluences of 5 × 1017, 1 × 1018, and 5 × 1018 ions/m2, and characterized for changes in surface hardness and tribological properties. Results of tests showed that hardness values of all implanted specimens increased over those of the unirradiated material, and the O+ implantation was more effective in improving hardness for a given fluence than the B+ implantation. Reciprocating sliding wear tests using a nylon ball counterface yielded significant improvements for all implanted specimens except for the 5 × 1017 ions/m2 B+-implanted PC. Wear tests conducted with a 52100 steel ball yielded significant improvements for the highest fluence of 5 × 1018 ions/m2 for both ions, but not for the two lower fluences. The improvements in properties were related to Linear Energy Transfer (LET) mechanisms, where it was shown that the O+ implantation caused greater ionization, thereby greater cross-linking at the surface corresponding to much better improvements in properties. The results were also compared with a previous study on PC using 200 keV B+ ions. The present study indicates that high energy ion irradiation produces thicker, more cross-linked, harder, and more wear-resistant surfaces on polymers and thereby improves properties to a greater extent and more efficiently than lower energy ion implantation.

The excitation and emission spectra of polymeric matrices—poly(ethylene oxide), PEO, and poly(propylene oxide), PPO—containing different concentrations of EuBr3 were recorded and most of the observed transitions identified. The Stark components of the 7F0−4, 5D0 levels and the corresponding barycenters were calculated based on the emission lines assignment to the 5D0,1 → 7F0−4 transitions. The spectra were discussed in terms of a C2v local Eu3+ coordination. The relative intensity of the 5D0 → 7F2 hypersensitive transition was related to the electrolyte morphological changes due to increasing europium concentration.

The effect of modifying the host composition on the photoluminescent properties of the ir stimulable phosphor system SrBaS : (Eu, Sm) was investigated. Spectral measurements (stimulated emission, fluorescent emission, excitation, and IR stimulation) were made on nine separate host compositions. The lattice constant, ionicity, and lattice strain affect Stark splitting of the rare earth excited states. While large shifts in the ir stimulated emission and fluorescence wavelengths were observed, no shift was observed for the peak excitation and ir stimulation wavelengths.

The growth kinetics of cholesterol gallstones have been studied by growing crystals from melted gallstones. The resulting microstructures are spherulitic which is essentially the same as the structures seen in natural gallstones prior to melting. The cholesterol crystals when observed in hot stage microscopy emerge from a unique nucleation center growing radially in the [001] direction with constant rate. The DSC thermograph of a natural gallstone is initially similar to that of cholesterol monohydrate. Upon melting, cholesterol monohydrate changes to anhydrous cholesterol; both forms are crystalline and exhibit polymorphic transformations. Synthetic stones grown from cholesterol were anhydrous and have a phase change at temperatures close to human body temperature. Optical microscopy established that this phase transformation cracks the spherulitic crystals perpendicular to the fast growth direction. Thermal expansion measurements demonstrate that upon heating, the low density, low temperature phase is transformed to a high density phase. This phase transformation and repeated cracking may prove to be useful in destroying natural gallstones, while suppressing this transformation and its associated cracking might aid in securing other solid cholesterol deposits within the human body.

Addendum: “Crystal growth, morphology, structure, and properties of HNaMP2O7 crystals where M = Co and Ni” [J. Mater. Res. 9, 1519 (1994)]