Certain carbon nitride compounds are predicted to rival or surpass diamond in terms of hardness, but attempts to experimentally synthesize these compounds in the past 30 years have failed. Now, in a recent groundbreaking study, researchers report successful synthesis of four covalent carbon nitrides that can all be recovered at ambient conditions.
Read MoreElastic strain engineering has potential to improve processing performance in the semiconductor industry. Researchers led by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Massachusetts Institute of Technology used machine learning to create a map that shows how to tune the thermal and electronic properties of crystalline materials via strain engineering.
Read MorePreserving high-pressure states of novel materials at ambient conditions is a long-sought-after goal for fundamental research and practical applications. A recent joint project by researchers in China and the United States showed that properties of high-pressure materials can be maintained in free-standing, nanostructured diamond capsules without the support of traditional bulky pressure vessels.
Read MoreNorth Carolina State University researchers successfully created diamonds at room temperature in 2015 using carbon thin films. Now, they accomplished the same feat using carbon nanofibers and nanotubes.
Read MoreThe January/February 2018 issue of the ACerS Bulletin—featuring articles about new facets for defects in ceramics, innovative new concretes, the NSF CAREER Class of 2017, and much more—is now available online.
Read MoreResearchers at Lehigh University report that in addition to gallium nitride’s checklist of other useful properties, the material has a wear rate that approaches that of diamonds—which could open the material’s foray into even more diverse applications.
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