High-purity and super-hard nano-polycrystalline diamond has been successfully synthesized by direct conversion from high-purity graphite under static pressures above 15 GPa and temperatures above . This paper describes research findings on the formation mechanism of nano-structure and on the contributing factor leading to high hardness.

The high pressure compaction without internal lubricant and the high green density even with the pore free density were achieved by the newly developed die wall lubricant for warm compaction. This developed die wall lubricated warm compaction followed by high temperature sintering resulted in not only the superior mechanical property but also the low dimensional change. In this paper, the effects of increasing the green density on the sintered density, the dimensional change and the mechanical property are mainly discussed

We are promoting a supernova(SN) search project with medium size (60cm-105cm) telescopes belonging to public observatories in Japan. The main purpose is to measure the SNe Ia rate, which plays an important role in the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies. We expect to measure the SN rate in E/SO galaxies within the 35% error after 2 years run, and the longer run will give the smaller error.