Among the hard ones, the hardest is not the diamond

1995/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Materialak

Is there harder than diamond? The answer to the question is a resounding negative for anyone who does not know the announcement made by the US team of researchers. In fact, the head of the research team Yip-Wah Chung claimed to have achieved a harder substance than diamond, b-carbon nitride.

The origin of the prediction is the studies initiated in the 1980s. Then they began to study the structure of crystals that could be more resistant than diamond. The behavior of boron nitride showed that this research could allow obtaining very hard crystals. But it wasn't harder than the diamond. However, laboratory sessions resulted in a formula that subsequently gave excellent results. In the sessions conducted it was possible to verify that the nitride of < - carbon is the only crystal that could exceed the degree of hardness of the diamond.

Obtaining non-crystallized carbon nitride is nothing difficult. In the case of glass, however, the difficulties were greater than expected. It seemed that carbon and nitrogen atoms did not want to create a crystalline structure. If it has finally been achieved, it can be said that it has been possible thanks to the hard work of skilled researchers.

Carbon and titanium were placed in the laboratory on a solid basis. On these two elements nitrogen molecules were projected to mix with both. The result collected two new elements, carbon nitride and titanium nitride. Both are very hard elements and there is the surprise, they have been able to show that by joining them a substance harder than diamond is achieved.

Prediction has generated mistrust among chemicals. They say that the impurity washing of the obtained glass will last a long time and that it will limit its area of use. However, if mass production of material is achieved, it will offer a great opportunity to carry out the industrial activities that have developed in the midst of diamonds and, of course, to carry out processes that the diamond itself cannot carry out. At the moment, the only thing we can say is that a rival has appeared to his measure.