Surface modification of diamond powders by sonochemical reaction

Diamond powders are used for polishing electronics devices such as hard disk substrates. The surface profile of the polished texture affects the final properties of hard disk and so polishing materials and polishing process are very important. Polishing materials have to be dispersed homogeneously without aggregation. Many dispersants are then developed to improve the dispersion property of polishing materials, whereas improvement of the surface properties of polishing materials using dispersant is not essential. In this study, an attempt was made to modify the surface of diamond powders using acoustic cavitation generated by irradiation of strong ultrasonic wave on aqueous diamond slurry. As a result, the diamond particle surface was verified to be modified by the oxidizing action of active oxygen species formed by acoustic cavitation