A novel diamond anvil cell for x-ray diffraction at cryogenic temperatures manufactured by 3D printing

A new miniature high-pressure diamond anvil cell was designed and constructed using 3D micro laser sintering technology. This is the first application of the use of rapid prototyping technology to construct high-pressure apparatus. The cell is specifically designed for use as an X-ray diffraction cell that can be used with commercially available diffractometers and open-flow cryogenic equipment to collect data at low temperature and high pressure. The cell is constructed from stainless steel 316L and is about 9 mm in diameter and 7 mm in height, giving it both small dimensions and low thermal mass, and it will fit into the cooling envelope of a standard CryostreamTM cooling system. The cell is clamped using a customized miniature buttress thread of diameter 7 mm and pitch of 0.5 mm enabled by 3D micro laser sintering technology; such dimensions are not attainable using conventional machining. The buttress thread was used as it has favourable uniaxial load properties allowing for higher pressure and better...