The paper was published in JPCL.
We all know diamond as the toughest natural material on Earth. It’s the hardest, most rigid crystal, able to withstand extreme forces. But scientists are always on the lookout for something even tougher. Surprisingly, carbon—yes, the same element that makes up diamond—can form many other structures, and some of them might be even stiffer than diamond itself.
Imagine if we could find or create a material that’s even harder than diamond. It could revolutionize industries, from cutting tools to protective coatings and beyond. But there’s a puzzle: experiments have shown that some carbon-based materials, like ultrahard fullerite and nanodiamonds, might outperform diamond in certain ways. Yet, when scientists try to confirm this using computer models, the numbers don’t add up.
In our research, we take a closer look at this mystery. One of the key differences between materials like diamond and these other carbon forms is how their chemical bonds behave under pressure. Diamond’s atomic bonds are incredibly strong, but we’ve found that in some newer carbon structures, the bonds are even stiffer. These stiff bonds suggest that these materials could be stronger than diamond. However, when we look at how the entire structure responds to pressure, it turns out that these materials bend and stretch in uneven ways. This uneven response—what scientists call "anisotropic deformation"—causes the overall material to seem weaker, even though its individual bonds are stronger.
So why does this matter? Well, understanding how these materials react under stress could lead to new superhard materials that have practical uses in technology, engineering, and manufacturing. The goal is not just to create a material harder than diamond but to understand why some materials might seem tough on the inside yet behave differently when we push them to their limits. This could eventually help us design materials that are tougher, more durable, and better suited for demanding applications.
We all know diamond as the toughest natural material on Earth. It’s the hardest, most rigid crystal, able to withstand extreme forces. But scientists are always on the lookout for something even tougher. Surprisingly, carbon—yes, the same element that makes up diamond—can form many other structures, and some of them might be even stiffer than diamond itself.
Imagine if we could find or create a material that’s even harder than diamond. It could revolutionize industries, from cutting tools to protective coatings and beyond. But there’s a puzzle: experiments have shown that some carbon-based materials, like ultrahard fullerite and nanodiamonds, might outperform diamond in certain ways. Yet, when scientists try to confirm this using computer models, the numbers don’t add up.
In our research, we take a closer look at this mystery. One of the key differences between materials like diamond and these other carbon forms is how their chemical bonds behave under pressure. Diamond’s atomic bonds are incredibly strong, but we’ve found that in some newer carbon structures, the bonds are even stiffer. These stiff bonds suggest that these materials could be stronger than diamond. However, when we look at how the entire structure responds to pressure, it turns out that these materials bend and stretch in uneven ways. This uneven response—what scientists call "anisotropic deformation"—causes the overall material to seem weaker, even though its individual bonds are stronger.
So why does this matter? Well, understanding how these materials react under stress could lead to new superhard materials that have practical uses in technology, engineering, and manufacturing. The goal is not just to create a material harder than diamond but to understand why some materials might seem tough on the inside yet behave differently when we push them to their limits. This could eventually help us design materials that are tougher, more durable, and better suited for demanding applications.