National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of ISO 6031:2025.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee W/-, Consumer Products and Services Sector Policy and Strategy Committee.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 July 2025.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a) patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 256, Pigments, dyestuffs and extenders.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

Diamond is a solid carbon material with a cubic crystal structure, within which each atom is covalently bonded to four neighbouring atoms forming a regular tetrahedron. This dense packing of carbon atoms determines the following unique properties of diamond:

the highest hardness and wear resistance,
the highest thermal conductivity and high electrical resistivity,
high refractive index and wide band gap,
chemical and radiation resistance,
high biocompatibility.

Nanoscale diamonds, also called nanodiamonds or ultradispersed diamonds, were first discovered in the Soviet Union in 1963 in a detonation blend obtained by the explosion of a trotyl-hexogen charges in a big, closed metal detonation chamber in air environment without any additional carbon source. Since then, they have been carefully studied and have become commercially available.^[4^][5^][6^] At the time of publication of this document, nanodiamonds are obtained by the detonation of explosives, by laser-induced synthesis from carbon soot, as well as by crushing and milling microdiamonds. Their main industrial applications include fine polishing and lapping, antifriction lubrication and electroplating. They are also used as functional additives to varnishes, paints and adhesives, thermal compounds and other composite materials.

Nanoscale diamonds have an average primary particle size of less than 100 nm. In case of detonation or laser synthesis, most of them are smaller than 10 nm while their average size usually does not exceed 5 nm. Unlike ordinary diamonds, a single nanodiamond particle has a complex structure, consisting of an inert diamond core and a reactive shell of hybrid fullerene-like or amorphous carbon with various functional groups on the surface (carbonyl, carboxyl, hydroxyl, amine, amide, ether, etc.). Nanodiamonds have a large surface area (up to 600 m²/g) and a low bulk density (up to 1 g/cm³). They usually aggregate strongly, forming agglomerates several micrometres in size.

Ready-to-use functional nanodiamond extenders can be supplied in the form of a powder with specially modified surface that provides disaggregation of nanodiamonds when they are introduced into a specific production process and mixed. In addition, functional extenders can be supplied in the form of concentrated dispersions of disaggregated nanodiamonds based on solvents, polymer resins and plastics.

To be used as a functional extender for application in polymer composites, nanoscale diamonds are provided in powder form or disaggregated and uniformly distributed in a polymer matrix or in a liquid.

Nanoscale diamond uniformly dispersed in polymers can improve polymers in terms of their strength, wear resistance, flexibility, thermal conductivity, thermal stability, radiation resistance and other functional properties.

1 Scope

This document specifies requirements and corresponding test methods for nanoscale diamond as a functional additive in polymer composites.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Abbreviated terms

5 Classification and designation

5.1 Classification

5.2 Designation

6 Requirements and test methods

6.1 Appearance

6.2 Technical requirements and test methods

7 Sampling

8 Marking and labelling

9 Test report

Bibliography

BS ISO 6031:2025

Functional extenders for special application. Nanoscale diamonds for polymer composites

Current

Published:

31 Jul 2025