Abstract As the reporter arrived, Hong Jinkun, chairman of Zhejiang Blue Dragon Technology Co., Ltd., asked with a curious tone: "What is the hardest thing in the world?" The answer was simple — diamond. Last year, after receiving 50 million yuan in venture capital, the company's first production line officially launched, marking a significant milestone in its journey to produce artificial diamonds. Currently, the plant has an annual output capacity of 280 million carats and expects sales revenue of 140 million yuan this year.
If you didn't see it with your own eyes, it would be hard to believe that the hardest natural substance, diamond, can originate from something as ordinary as dark graphite. In the first-floor workshop of Blue Dragon, workers retrieved a cracked cylinder and revealed a synthetic diamond embedded within — glowing like golden grains under the light. The secret behind this transformation lies in an unassuming synthetic press located in the factory. Each press costs over 1.3 million yuan and features an electric heating system. Using graphite and pyrophyllite as raw materials, these presses apply a pressure of 35,000 tons and heat up to 2,000 degrees Celsius, creating synthetic diamonds. To the reporter’s surprise, the resulting diamonds are no bigger than fine sand, visible only under a microscope — far from the large gems one might imagine. Hong Jinkun explained that producing larger diamonds requires further technological refinement.
Artificial diamonds have widespread applications in industries such as tool cutting, but at the time, there were no local companies producing them in Zhejiang. With nearly 30 years of experience running an auto parts manufacturing business, Hong Jinkun identified a gap in the market. He discovered that synthetic diamonds could serve as additives for lubricants, wear-resistant coatings, and composite materials. Industries like Seiko, petroleum, chemicals, aerospace, and microelectronics all rely heavily on high-quality diamonds.
Hong Jinkun has close connections with a few top experts in synthetic diamond technology based in Beijing. When he proposed the idea of establishing the first artificial diamond company in Zhejiang, the collaboration was seamless. The production of synthetic diamonds is highly sensitive and technically demanding. If traditional “sheet metallurgy†methods were used, a top hammer costing over 10,000 yuan might need to be replaced multiple times. However, Blue Dragon Technology introduced an advanced “powder metallurgy†process, achieving zero consumption of the top hammer for six consecutive months. Industry experts praised this achievement, calling it "an industry miracle since the development of synthetic diamonds in China in the 1960s."Guangdong Kinen Sanitary Ware Industrial Co.,Ltd. , https://www.kinengroup.com