@richardbrand,
The key to The Triboelectric Effect Series - AlphaLab, Inc is looking at the values and then comparing values to estimate the relative charge affinity between materials. For example, HDPE which is used for many (MoFi) record sleeves has a charge affinity of -90 while PVC has a charge affinity of -100. They are close, but the table predicts that if HDPE & PVC slide, HDPE will give up electrons to PVC which will gain, and PVC can develop a static charge. Ergo, when removing records from HDPE record sleeves, remove slowly.
Otherwise, if you check other triboelectric series, you find glass to be one of the most positive - it wants to give up electrons. No, there is no specific data for diamond that I found (and I am not going to dive deeper) other than the article I spoke of earlier, so there is the need for some deductive reasoning.
Your own textbook indicates that a significant portion of analysed dust retrieved from records was made up of diamond, and I am putting two and two together and guessing this comes from stylus wear, which like the triboelectric effect, is caused by friction.
My textbook only quotes THE WEAR AND CARE OF RECORDS AND STYLI, by Harold D. Weiler, 1954, and states: I.1.2 “Record dust/dirt when examined under a microscope consists of grease, stylus particles, abrasive material, and solids which resemble wool fibers covered with a soft waxy substance. An analysis of the "dust" removed from a number of stylus tips, which had been used on dirty records, showed that it consisted of approximately; 12% jagged silica particles, 35% diamond dust, 40% miscellaneous particles, including soot, grit and particles worn from the record groove itself. The remaining 13% consisted of fibers and lint.”
Unfortunately, Weller never differentiated the particle size, and those materials, diamond dust should be of no consequence because of how fine it should be. My textbook states: VI.13.3 "...This has to exist as a very, very fine powder and the finest diamond powder you can buy is 100,000 grit which is 0.25 micron. So, the diamond wear powder on the record is probably less which in the end becomes inconsequential so long as there is no cleaner residue."
However, the silica (which are like sand) and miscellaneous particles from the pressing factory (think about unsealed concrete floors) and the residential home can be sources.
As far as aluminum platters, in Chapter VI of my textbook you will see where I grounded my VPI Al platter (all the way back to the source outlet), and where I use a DIY record mat made from a three-layer vinyl (with conductive center) electrostatic discharge control (ESD) mat, but it can only be used with a reflex clamp since it has no record label depression.
Take care,
Neil
