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Diamonds Are for Softies - Boron is Harder

Posted September 08, 2009 7:50 AM

From New Scientist - Online News:

You don't often break a diamond. So when in 2003 Dave Mao cracked a tooth of his diamond anvil, he knew something extraordinary must have happened. Together with his daughter Wendy and other colleagues at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, he was using the device to test materials at pressures many millions of times higher than those at the Earth's surface - higher even than in our planet's core - by squeezing them between two tiny diamond jaws.

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Re: Diamonds Are for Softies - Boron is Harder

09/09/2009 10:28 AM

I have read that there are some rare earth nitrides that are even harder.

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Re: Diamonds Are for Softies - Boron is Harder

09/09/2009 12:15 PM

Did I miss something? After reading the article, I see no evidence that "Boron is Harder"; only that some Boron-Nitrogen compounds MIGHT be harder (with "Hardness" undefined) under certain conditions. Until someone unequivocally demonstrates production of a Boron structure which will, say, indent diamond but not vice-versa, or one which can readily cut diamond, I will remain skeptical of this headline.

I understand the reasons why a search for harder materials is needed, and what advantages may accrue to materials capable of cutting / abrading iron and steel without being dissolved into it like diamond is, but I suspect that any such material will have its own Achilles' Heel for some uses.

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