Diamonds are not forever
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/8/16/1
26 August 2005
Physicists in Germany have created a material that is harder than
diamond. Natalia Dubrovinskaia and colleagues at the University of
Bayreuth made the new material by subjecting carbon-60 molecules to
immense pressures. The new form of carbon, which is known as aggregated
diamond nanorods, is expected to have many industrial applications
(App. Phys. Lett. 87 083106).
The hardness of a material is measured by its isothermal bulk modulus.
Aggregated diamond nanorods have a modulus of 491 gigapascals (GPa),
compared with 442 GPa for conventional diamond. Dubrovinskaia and two
of her co-workers - Leonid Dubrovinky and Falko Langenhorst - have
patented the process used to make the new material.
See: http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/8/16/1
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