Researchers discovered how to bend diamonds like rubber

byNeil Rickards

diamondIs the largest of the natural substances produced on the earth composed of carbon atomshardnessIt is a substance with. Researchers discovered how to bend such diamonds like soft materials like rubber.

Ultralarge elastic deformation of nanoscale diamond | Science
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6386/300

Scientists find a way to bend and stretch diamond, one of the hardest materials on Earth
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-figure-out-bending-and-stretching-nanoscale-diamonds

Diamond is a substance with very high hardness, but it is fragile against the force to try to bend or deform the diamond and it is fragile easily. However, in Science Journal SciencePublished articleAccording to an experiment conducted by a research team cooperated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hong Kong · Singapore · Korean researchers, it was possible to bend a very thin acicular diamond.

He is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMing Dao"We were able to measure the amount of elastic deformation that the nanoscale diamond can maintain, it is a big surprise," he said, and this research is a fresh discovery for scientists as well. The research teamChemical vapor depositionBy the process, we created a nanoscale needle-like diamond with a needle thickness of 300 nanometers (0.0003 mm) or less and a needle length of 2 micrometers (0.002 mm), and a state where the diamond tip pushed the needle and deformed it I observed it with an electron microscope.

The researchers slowly deformed the diamond needle and investigated the breaking point that the needle broke without being able to withstand the shape change, and as a result, the diamond needle could be folded by 9%, the surface area was also I understood that it spreads accordingly. Moreover, it seems that it was observed that it returns to the former shape like rubber like rubber when the pressure applied to the diamond needle is lost.

Clicking on the image below will play back the GIF movie (about 5 MB in capacity) in a way that the diamond needle slowly bends.


"In general, it is thought that the properties of substances change when the amount of elastic deformation exceeds 1%," said Professor of Engineering at Northwestern University of IllinoisYongan HuanHe expects and expects that new characteristic changes may be found in bent diamonds. Diamond is used not only as a jewelry but also as various industrial products such as inspection equipment, acoustic equipment, semiconductor parts, etc. If the characteristics of the new diamond are confirmed, there is a possibility of bringing a great merit in the industrial field There is that.

The research team is going to continue researching what kind of characteristics the diamond in the bent state has in the future.