there's a new "hardest material known to man"

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 2:29 am

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7926

A material that is harder than diamond has been created in the lab, by packing together tiny "nanorods" of carbon.

The new material, known as aggregated carbon nanorods (ACNR), was created by compressing and heating super-strong carbon molecules called buckyballs or carbon-60. These molecules consist of 60 atoms that interlock in hexagonal or pentagonal shapes and resemble tiny soccer balls.

The super-tough ACNR was created by compressing carbon-60 to 200 times normal atmospheric pressure, while simultaneously heating it to 2226Â°C.

The properties of the resulting material were then measured using a diamond anvil cell at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France. This instrument squeezes a material between two normal diamonds, enabling researchers to study it at high pressure using synchrotron radiation â?? extremely intense X-rays which reveal the materialâ??s structure.

The researchers found their ACNR to be 0.3% denser than ordinary diamond and more resistant to pressure than any other known material.
Industrial applications

"Our material actually scratches normal diamonds," says Natalia Dubrovinskaia, of the University of Bayreuth, in Germany, who led the research. "We were very excited, and glad."

While an ordinary diamond gets its hardness from the strong molecular bonds between each of its atoms, ACNR derives its strength from the fact that it is formed from interlocking nanorods, the researchers say.

Dubrovinskaia told New Scientist the material could have a wide range of potential industrial applications. As it is stable at very high temperatures, she says it could be better than normal diamond for deep drilling and polishing abrasive materials. She also believes it will be easy to mass produce the super-tough material. "It's a very reproducible result," she adds.

Robo · Post by **Robo** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 3:26 am

Ah yes, but what does it look like? Black I assume.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:49 am

Good for armor plating?

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:10 am

Hmm... I wonder if it will replace Diamond as the primary material used in armor plating.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:31 am

roid wrote:
the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France.

This proves it's fake

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:13 am

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

"A European cooperation in science. Eighteen nations work together to use the extremely bright beams of light produced by the ESRF's high-performance storage ring to study a remarkably wide range of materials, from biomolecules to nanomagnets, and ancient Egyptian cosmetics to metallic foams." diamonds

Also

Synchrotron radiation- instrumentation
X-ray absorption and magnetic dichroism
X-ray fluorescence
Photoelectron spectroscopy
Surface and interface studies
X-ray scattering and magnetic effects
X-ray diffraction
Catalysis
X-ray microscopy and lithography
Infrared spectroscopy (free electron laser)
Macromolecular crystallography
Atom and molecular studies

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:01 pm

woodchip wrote:Good for armor plating?

most definately!

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:12 pm

Awesome! If they can indeed keep the cost down, theres almost limitless uses for this.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:21 pm

..uh.. .3% denser? pfft!

I would imagine that it's still cheaper to use standard industiral diamonds. Still. When you're doing reseach, you eventually have produce results to substanciate the money you're spending.

... 3 tenths of a percent?

Armor plating?? what?! no.. no.. try drilling bits used to cut through extremely dense soil deposites.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:45 pm

Wow cool so it's really hard. Kthxbye, next topic...

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:46 pm

AceCombat wrote:
woodchip wrote:Good for armor plating?
most definately!

Wrong. And Wrong.

The word is "definitely". And no - it's useless for armour plating. "Hard" doesn't mean "strong".

And hey - guess what, is *IS* black.

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 3:24 pm

True enough. Some of the hardest materials are also the most brittle.

Take ceramics, for instance... (on average anyway)

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:38 pm

and look how many armor types are based off of ceramics....?

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:52 pm

all the ceramic armour i've seen is used for it's superior THERMAL properties, so it's used to provide a thermal protection layer to other armours. it's not very protective on it's own afaik - unless you solely need to protect against heat.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:04 pm

wikipedia has an article on it.
(note the bold, the GPa is %11 better than normal diamond but i'm not sure how it compares to the GPa of type IIa diamond or ultrahard fullerite)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregated ... d_nanorods

Aggregated diamond nanorods, or ADNRs, are an allotrope of carbon believed to be the least compressible material known to man, as measured by its isothermal bulk modulus; aggregated diamond nanorods have a modulus of 491 gigapascals (GPa), while conventional diamond has a modulus of 442 GPa. ADNRs are also 0.3% denser than regular diamond. The ADNR material is also harder than type IIa diamond and ultrahard fullerite.

A process to produce the substance was discovered by physicists in Germany, led by Natalia Dubrovinskaia, at the University of Bayreuth. ADNRs are made by compressing the carbon-60 molecules to 20 GPa, while at the same time heating to 2500 Kelvin, using a unique 5000 metric tonne multianvil press. The resulting substance is a series of interconnected diamond nanorods, with diameters of between 5 and 20 nanometres and lengths of around 1 micrometre each.

A diamond anvil cell, located at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility at Grenoble, France, was used to measure the compressibility of the material.

Beowulf · Post by **Beowulf** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:06 pm

SWEET now all I have to do is upgrade my +4 Holy Breastplate with this stuff and I'll be invincible!

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 11:33 pm

Krom wrote:Wow cool so it's really hard. Kthxbye, next topic...

LOL

X2

Vertigo 99 · Post by **Vertigo 99** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 11:56 pm

Beowulf wrote:SWEET now all I have to do is upgrade my +4 Holy Breastplate with this stuff and I'll be invincible!

well said

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 11:57 pm

Compression modulus isn't exactly hardness, I should note - but it is still a good indicator of what the hardness will be.

And 491 GPa. Dude.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:32 am

Beowulf wrote:SWEET now all I have to do is upgrade my +4 Holy Breastplate with this stuff and I'll be invincible!

How can you protect something you don't have?

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:43 pm

Suncho wrote:Hmm... I wonder if it will replace Diamond as the primary material used in armor plating.

hmmm...the things ya' learn on these here boards

edit: I always thought teflon played a primary role

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:21 pm

Wake me when they come up with adementium.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:04 pm

There was also "unobtain-ium" (my, what an appropriate name

) in that movie from a couple of years ago, The Core.

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:25 pm

"Our material actually scratches normal diamonds," says Natalia Dubrovinskaia, of the University of Bayreuth, in Germany, who led the research. "We were very excited, and glad."

A spokesman for the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility had a diffrent take on this, however, stating that they where definetly not "glad" that this property had been discovered after the ACNR had scratched the proverbial hell out of their diamond anvil. Fortunatly, the French already hate us, and we can ignore the damage to their facility.

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:52 pm

Mr. Perfect wrote:.......after the ACNR had scratched the proverbial hell out of their diamond anvil. Fortunatly, the French already hate us, and we can ignore the damage to their facility.

Richard Cranium · Post by **Richard Cranium** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:59 pm

Beowulf wrote:I'll be invincible!

You're a looney!

there's a new "hardest material known to man"

there's a new "hardest material known to man"

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