From a grain of sand to a chain, the diamond legend of the Central Plains
 
Without diamond, don't take care of porcelain. Diamond, the hardest substance in nature, is known as the "industrial tooth", and high-end diamond is the raw material for diamonds. Before the maturity of artificial diamond technology, natural diamonds were expensive and rare treasures.
However, Henan in the Central Plains is quietly writing a legendary story about diamonds. From a grain of sand to a chain, after years of continuous upgrading, Henan's artificial diamond industry is leading the world towards "diamond freedom". On the lawn of Zhengzhou Abrasive and Grinding Research Institute, a golden spherical equipment stands quietly on a thick rock base, which is the "meritorious press" for the development of China's superhard materials industry.
 
 
Henan: the heart of the world's synthetic diamonds
 
Diamond is a mineral composed of carbon elements, an allotrope of graphite, and a common precursor of diamonds. Graphite can form synthetic diamond under high temperature and pressure. Artificial diamond has excellent properties such as superhard, wear-resistant, and corrosion-resistant, which are the same as natural diamond. It is an efficient, high-precision, and environmentally friendly advanced inorganic non-metallic material. It is the core consumable material used in the production of tools for sawing, cutting, grinding, and drilling high hardness, brittle, and difficult to machine materials. It has been widely used in precision cutting tools, wear-resistant devices, semiconductor and electronic devices, low magnetic detection, optical windows, acoustic applications, biomedical, jewelry, and other fields.
 
In the artificial diamond industry, there is a saying: "The world's diamonds look at China, and China's diamonds look at Henan. Data shows that by 2024, China's synthetic diamond output has accounted for more than 95% of the global total output, and Henan's output has accounted for more than 80% of the national output.
 
Zhecheng County in Shangqiu City, Henan Province is known as the "Diamond Capital". In the diamond production workshops of various sizes in this county, rows of six sided press machines are silently running. Under high temperature and pressure of 1600 ℃, after two to three weeks of "incubation", graphite columns can produce high-purity diamond rough stones of over 1 carat.
Previously, we mainly produced diamonds for mechanical processing. Now, through technological innovation, we have built a complete chain of diamond products such as micro powders, single crystals, and diamonds, with geometric growth in product added value. Only the High tech Zone of Zhecheng County has settled in more than 110 diamond superhard materials and related supporting enterprises, cultivating and processing 4 million carats of diamonds, with micro powder production and export volume accounting for 70% and 50% of the national market share, respectively.
 
Shangqiu City is just one of the gathering places for artificial diamond production capacity in Henan Province. Zhengzhou, Xuchang, Nanyang and other places are also important production areas for artificial diamonds and their products, nurturing many industry leaders and listed companies such as Zhongnan Diamond, Yellow River Whirlwind, Sifangda, Zhengzhou Huajing, etc. According to the latest data from Qichacha, the number of enterprises in Henan province with names containing "diamond" has exceeded 500.
 
From a Grain of Sand to a Chain: A Legendary Journey of 60 Years
 
When it comes to the start and development of the diamond industry in Henan, Zhengzhou Abrasive and Grinding Research Institute (Sanming Institute) is an unavoidable topic. On the lawn of Sanmo, a golden spherical equipment stands on a thick rock base, which is the "meritorious press" for the development of China's superhard materials industry.
 
In 1963, a Chinese artificial diamond was successfully developed in Beijing, and then this top press machine was built in Jinan. Wang Guangzu, one of the developers of a synthetic diamond in China in his 90s, still vividly remembers that period of history. Because the diamond pilot base is located in Zhengzhou and Sanmo has a good foundation for mass production of superhard materials, this top press machine has settled here.
 
Since the industrial mass production of synthetic diamond was realized in Sanmo, China's synthetic diamond industry has mushroomed like mushrooms. After decades of technological progress and industrial chain expansion, a complete industrial chain has been derived from a single diamond. Henan enterprises have not only connected the entire industry chain from equipment to products, but also some industry leaders have almost achieved perfection in segmented fields and are accelerating their extension to high-end areas.
 
Innovation Leading: Responding to New Challenges of Global Competition
 
While domestic manufacturers are accelerating their layout in the artificial diamond industry, competition overseas is also intensifying. As an important exporter of cultivated diamonds in China, India is vigorously supporting the cultivation of the diamond industry and plans to increase the global proportion of cultivated diamond production from the current level to a higher proportion by 2025.
 
However, the challenges facing China's diamond industry go far beyond that. Although China has the most complete diamond industry chain and large output, there are still significant challenges in the research of functional diamonds. Diamond has great potential for application in aerospace, next-generation semiconductor and other technological fields, but higher requirements are placed on the purity, size, preparation and processing technology of diamond.
 
In order to maintain its advantageous position in the diamond field, Henan Province has clearly stated in the "14th Five Year Plan for High Quality Development of Manufacturing Industry in Henan Province" that it is necessary to consolidate the advantages of artificial diamond, vigorously develop gem grade diamond, high thermal conductivity and high transmittance polycrystalline diamond, accelerate the research and development and manufacturing of high-end products such as diamond polycrystalline and high-end cutting tools, and create a global superhard material industry base.
 
Henan, once a small diamond production workshop, has now grown into the heart of artificial diamonds worldwide. From a tiny grain of sand and gravel to a brilliant industrial chain, the story of Henan's artificial diamonds continues.
 
 
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