A group of researchers from the Australian National University managed to create a rare type of artificial diamonds, which are harder than their natural counterparts. The new material is a type of lonsdaleite – natural mineral that is found in some meteorite craters around the world.
Feature lonsdaleite is a hexagonal crystalline lattice, through which the material becomes 60% harder than normal diamonds, with bars in the shape of a cube.
For the first time this mineral was discovered at the crash site of a meteorite in the canyon of the Devil in 1967, and since then scholars repeatedly attempted to recreate it in the lab. However, the standard technology required a temperature of about 1000 °C, which significantly complicates the process.
Instead, researchers from Australia used a so-called “diamond anvil” — a device consisting of two opposing diamonds. With her help, they managed to recreate ultra-high pressure at which these minerals are formed deep in the earth’s crust. Thus for the process needed a temperature of just 400 °C, which radically simplifies the method and reduces the cost of the finished mineral (compare 3700 °C, which was used in the previous technology).
The most likely scope of the new superhard diamonds will be the mining industry. Scientists have created a substance that exceeds diamond in hardness and luster.
