Morphology of Diamond Crystals and Mechanism of Their Growth

Using the morphology of natural and synthetic diamond crystals as an example, the mechanisms of their growth of dislocation (spiral), non-dislocation (two-dimensional nucleation), normal (fibrous), and block (adhesive) character have been demonstrated. These mechanisms can be clearly seen in the morphological and microtopographic features of diamond polyhedra and xenocrystals. Growth occurs by the dislocation and normal mechanisms for most natural diamond crystals and the dislocation and two-dimensional nucleation mechanisms for synthetic diamond crystals.