Fullerite



  Fullerites are the solid-state manifestation of fullerenes and related compounds and materials.

Types of fullerite

steel will have to wait until nanotube production becomes more economically viable.

Ultrahard fullerite, Buckyball

Ultrahard fullerite (C60) is a form of Mohs hardness scale.

Specifically, it is a unique version of diamond (111) has a hardness value of 167±6 gigapascals (GPa) when scratched with an ultrahard fullerite tip (the hardness of a substance can only be tested properly with a harder substance). A Type IIa diamond (111) has a hardness value of 231±5 GPa when scratched with a diamond tip; this leads to hypothetically inflated values.

Ultrahard fullerite has a hardness value of 310 GPa, though the actual value may range ±40 GPa, since testing done using an ultrahard fullerite tip on ultrahard fullerite will lead to, like diamond on diamond, distorted values. It is thought that beta carbon nitride will have a hardness value, if harder than diamond, less than that of ultrahard fullerite.

C60 has also been used to create an even harder material: aggregated diamond nanorods[3].

See also

References

  1. ^ Nano-sclerometry measurements of superhard materials and diamond hardness using scanning force microscope with the ultrahard fullerite C60 tip
  2. ^ Ultrahard and superhard phases of fullerite C60: comparison with diamond on hardness and wear
  3. ^ Diamonds lose 'world's hardest' title
 
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