Material properties of Diamonds

Main articles: Material properties of diamond and Crystallographic defects in diamond

Diamond and graphite are two allotropes of carbon: pure forms of the same element that differ in structure.A diamond is a transparent crystal of tetrahedrally bonded carbon atoms (sp3) that crystallizes into the diamond lattice which is a variation of the face centered cubic structure. Diamonds have been adapted for many uses because of the material's exceptional physical characteristics. Most notable are its extreme hardness and thermal conductivity (900–2,320 W·m−1·K−1),[9] as well as wide bandgap and high optical dispersion.[10] Above 1,700 °C (1,973 K / 3,583 °F) in vacuum or oxygen-free atmosphere, diamond converts to graphite; in air, transformation starts at ~700 °C.[11] Naturally occurring diamonds have a density ranging from 3.15–3.53 g/cm3, with very pure diamond typically extremely close to 3.52 g/cm3.[8]