February 15, 1955
GE Announces Capability to Manufacture and Reproduce Diamonds

Exhaustive tests proved conclusively this manufactured grayish-green and yellow microscopic diamond crystal shared all the salient properties of natural diamond: it scratched glass, had the triangular-faced crystal characteristics of diamond, passed X-ray diffraction patterns identical to those of natural diamond, did not dissolve in acid and it burned or oxidized at high temperatures. In 1954, GE achieved the first reproducible process for making diamond and spent most of the year refining the process. GE Research Laboratory announced its capability to manufacture and reproduce diamond on February 15, 1955.

The evolution of manufactured superabrasives had begun.

October 1957
GE Becomes the World’s First Mass Manufacturer of Diamond by Introducing „Type A“

All diamond, mined or manufactured has the same hardness. Scientists discovered they were capable of manufacturing crystals superior in performance to mined diamond by “tailoring” or changing crystal properties and form to meet specific applications. When diamond is used as an abrasive, four factors affect its performance: chipping resistance (TI), chipping resistance after thermal cycling (TTI); resistance to macro-fracturing and shape. Changing temperature, the composition of the catalyst, or either the amount of pressure, or time of growth changes these four characteristics of diamond.

Modern high pressure/high temperature diamond presses at the GE Superabrasives plant in Worthington, Ohio.

Type A diamond was specifically designed to grind tungsten carbide. These first tiny sand-like diamond grains quickly established a clear performance edge, surpassing mined diamond in many industrial uses.

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