Ballas

Variety of
Diamond
DiamondC

Where it forms, where it's found

5recorded occurrences
Source · OpenStreetMap

Crystallography

Morphology

Pervasive “feather”-like formations observable in cathodoluminescence are a remarkable structural feature of ballases. They are likely related to the diamond fibers, undergoing intense splitting and rotation during ballas formation. These features are enriched in N3 nitrogen-related defects.

Literature, links & citation

Citations
  1. 1961FISCHER, ROLAND BARTON (1961) The ‘Ballas’ Form of Diamond. Nature, 189 (4758). 50 doi:10.1038/189050a0DOI: 10.1038/189050a0
  2. 1972Trueb, Lucien F., Barrett, Charles S. (1972) Microstructural investigation of ballas diamond. American Mineralogist, 57 (11-12) 1664-1680
  3. 1985DeVries, R. C., Robertson, C. (1985) The microstructure of ballas (polycrystalline diamond) by electrostatic charging in the SEM. Journal of Materials Science Letters, 4 (6) 805-807 doi:10.1007/bf00726997DOI: 10.1007/bf00726997
  4. 1997Lux, B., Haubner, R., Holzer, H., DeVries, R.C. (1997) Natural and synthetic polycrystalline diamond, with emphasis on ballas. International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials, 15 (5). 263-288 doi:10.1016/s0263-4368(97)87503-8DOI: 10.1016/s0263-4368(97)87503-8
  5. 2002Haubner, Roland, Lux, Benno (2002) Deposition of ballas diamond and nano-crystalline diamond. International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials, 20 (2). 93-100 doi:10.1016/s0263-4368(02)00006-9DOI: 10.1016/s0263-4368(02)00006-9
Cite this entry
@misc{mineral2026,
  author    = {Mineral Index editorial board},
  title     = {Ballas — Mineral Index},
  year      = {2026},
  url       = {https://mineralindex.org/minerals/ballas-498},
  note      = {Accessed 2026-05-11}
}