Element Six is an old famous manufacturer of industrial diamonds, and for a long time it occupies a large share in the world market. But in recent years, this situation changes continuously, for it has encountered challenges coming from manufacturers in China.
After decades of research and development, China can now produce big-grit and high-quality industrial diamonds using their self-made hinged cubic press machines.
The even pressure distribution in the hinged cubic press machines is more suitable for synthesizing diamonds than the pressure situation in the two-side press machines which are commonly used by manufacturers outside China, including Element Six. The structure of this kind machine is simpler than two-side press machines', and their production and operation costs are lower. Hinged cubic press machine has been researched by China since 1960s. The pressure generated in it is improved over the years, and the machine becomes bigger and bigger.
On August 25, 2007, 20/30 grit high-toughness diamonds produced by the China's hinged cubic press machines passed technical identification. These big-grit diamonds' production cost is low and their quality is very good. These diamonds have great advantages in the market, and Element Six lost a lot of market share.
One of the leading industrial diamond manufacturers in China has made a plan that in 2010, their diamonds production and sale reach 1500 million carats, among them more than 600 million carats are high-grade diamonds, and their world market share exceeds 50%.
Industrial diamonds are widely used to produce diamond tools, which include diamond blades, diamond grinding cup wheels, diamond core bits, diamond polishing pads and many many thousands of other kinds of products. Many of them can be seen on Diamond Blade Select (http://www.diamondbladeselect.com/
It can be foreseeable that if Element Six can not adopt more advanced or lower-cost production technologies or equipment, its market share will continuously shrink, and the market share will mainly be obtained by China's diamond manufacturers who are using hinged cubic press machines.
