Re: [ATM] Re: Tile tool x diamond pellets

[Guy Brandenburg <gfbrandenburg@yahoo.com>]

Here is what I was looking for:

"diamond repels water and adheres to wax and grease.
It is this remarkable property, that allows diamond to
be easily separated from other minerals in the mining
process.

"Amazing density

"Carbon has a relatively low atomic weight, yet
diamond is amazingly dense - 3.51 grams per cubic
centimeter. "
These two properties should make it easy to separate
out the diamond bits (if that's what they are).
Guy

--- Mark Holm <mdholm@telerama.com> wrote:
> Diamond is roughly 50% denser than glass. That ought
> to make a properly 
> designed elutriator, or water slurry centrifugal
> separator work for 
> separating diamond dust from glass dust.  One of the
> foam flotation 
> methods might work too with the right surfactant. 
> Glass and diamond 
> have rather different surface chemistry.
> 
> Air separation might work too.  There are air
> centrifugal separators.
> 
> For small quantities a static elutriator should be
> simplest.  Might get 
> a better cut using saturated calcium chloride (high
> class ice melting 
> salt) solution rather than water since the relative
> density difference 
> would then be higher.  You ought to be able to get a
> bit denser by 
> dissolving sugar into a saturated CaCl2 solution.
> 
> You could, in principle, dissolve the glass out with
> KOH or NaOH, but 
> that is a nasty way.
> 
> Glass should float on liquid bromine while diamond
> should sink in it.  
> If heating pitch on your kitchen stove hasn't won
> you a divorce yet, 
> bromine surely would ;)
> 
> -- 
> Mark Holm
> mdholm@telerama.com
> 
> 
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> 

Guy  Brandenburg
Washington, DC
My home page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfbranden/GFB_Home_Page.html
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