Big blasts create tiny, tough diamonds

DEMING, N.M. (KRQE) - It’s no longer just gold ‘in them thar hills' near Deming, N.M.; it's diamonds, too, left as the dust clears and the sound of detonations echoes away.

Scientists from the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) at New Mexico Tech are using massive explosions to create diamonds in a remote piece of desert at Playas.

“The nearest town I believe is Windmill, probably about 10 miles away to the west,” Tech explosives engineer Tom Villanova told KRQE News 13. “So, we're pretty isolated out here, and it makes it a pretty good spot.”

EMRTC staffers take carbon in the form of graphite, mix in other ingredients and add lots of explosives. Powerful blasts then create the heat and pressure required to compress the carbon atoms into industrial diamonds.

Tech geochemist Kent Condie, author of a book on geologic processes called “Earth as an Evolving Planetary System,” said the process mimics the heat and pressure found more than 50 miles below the planet's surface.

“The pressure effect is to compress these atoms closer together and in doing that you actually make a new mineral,” he said. “A diamond is a new mineral.”

A European firm, Microdiamant , contracted with Tech to do the work. Microdiamant then markets the diamonds for use in high-tech polishing.

To create the diamonds EMRTC workers take a big piece of culvert tubing, set it on its end and fill it up with explosives. Buried in the explosives inside the big cylinder is a smaller container with the graphite "recipe."

After the diamond mix is prepared, the crew piles into an old armored car for safety. All roads in the area are shut down to keep any passersby safe.

One man gets on his radio and broadcasts the countdown to everyone in the area, “Five, four, three, two, one…”

Another technician slams his hand into a plunger, and a split second later a massive blast follows echoing across the desert. A giant dust plume billows into the sky.

High-speed video captures the powerful shock waves produced by the explosion as they pass through the air and the ground.

The result of every diamond shot is not the shiny gemstones seen in jewelers' ads but rather a gritty diamond sand.

According to Microdiamant the unique "polycrystalline" shape of these diamonds makes them tougher than natural diamonds and superb for polishing jobs requiring extreme precision.

Some of the jobs include polishing human joint implants.

The New Mexico Tech diamond blasting range looks like a war zone with shredded bushes and powdery dust everywhere.

Staffers said even though the work takes them to one of the most isolated parts of New Mexico for extended periods, they enjoy the chance to use explosives for something other than weapons.

“I'm just interested in any way that explosives can better mankind,” Villanova said.

EMRTC conducts its diamond blasts about once a month.