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'DIAMOND' is not the Hardest any more. By Mohideen Basha The Gemstone 'Diamond' is no longer the worlds hardest material any more. According to the report in the New Scientist, a rare natural substance, called Lonsdaleite, which is made from carbon atoms just like diamond, has emerged as 58 per cent harder than the Diamond. Rare mineral Lonsdaleite is sometimes formed when meteorites containing graphite hit earth, while Wurtzite born nitride is formed during volcanic eruptions that produce very high temperatures and pressures. If confirmed, however, Wurtzite boron nitride may turnout most useful of the two. As it is stable in Oxygen at higher temperatures than diamond. An international team, led by Zicheng Pan at Shangai Jiao Tong University, simulated how atoms in two substances would respond to the stress of a finely tipped probe pushing down on them. The simulation revealed tha the first one, Wurtizite boron nitride, with stood 18 per cent more stress than diamond, while the second, the mineral Lonsdalite, 58 per cent more. And according to the scientists, this makes it ideal to place on the tips of cutting and drilling tools operating at huge temperatures, or as corrosion resistant films on the surface of a space vehicle, for example. Paradoxically Wurtzite boron nitride's hardness appears to take shape from the flexibility of the bonds between the atoms that constitue it.

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Contributed by sukkran on February 27, 2009, at 5:19 PM UTC.

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