Small-angle neutron scattering study of high-pressure sintered detonation nanodiamonds

The structure of detonation diamonds sintered at a high pressure (7 GPa) and temperatures of 1200–1700°C has been investigated by small-angle neutron scattering. It is shown that sintering leads to an increase in the particle size from 6 to 30 nm and established that this increase is due to the chainlike oriented attachment of particles. This study supplements the oriented-attachment model, which was suggested based on the X-ray diffraction spectra of detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs) sintered under the same conditions.