Multiple twinning of diamond synthesized by acetylene flame

The relation between the domains and domain boundaries of multiple twins of diamond were investigated by the electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) method and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Multiple twinned diamonds have two types of icosahedral morphologies. One is an almost perfect icosahedron in which all of the faces are {111} faces. The other is a hollow icosahedron similar to one of the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedrons. The indented negative trigonal faces are formed from the {100} faces of a cube. It was confirmed that the convex edges of the twinned icosahedron corresponded to the Σ3 boundaries, whereas the concave edges were assigned to the Σ9 twin boundary by means of the EBSD analysis. It was confirmed from the HRTEM image that a series of dislocations compensate for the mismatching angle which occurs after five successive twinning.