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rhombus may be the inviolable experience natural material , but researchers have just make some stiff competition .
By elicit a dime - sized graphite disk at a rampart at 15,000 mph ( 24,100 kilometre / h ) , scientists momently create a hexagonal ball field that is both stiffer and strong than the instinctive , cubic kind .
Hexagonal diamonds , also have it away as Lonsdaleite diamonds , are a particular type of diamond withcarbonatomsarranged in a hexangular pattern . Formed when graphite is expose to extreme heat and stress , such as at meteor impact sites , the rare material has long been theorized to be stronger than ordinary three-dimensional diamonds .
However , as the hexagonal diamonds discover in impact volcanic crater contain too many impurities , scientist have never accurately measure out their properties .
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Now , investigator have not only spirt the hexagonal diamonds but also measured their harshness — the ability to resist changing shape when mash or stretch — with a combining of sound waves and laser light .
" baseball diamond is a very alone cloth , " study atomic number 27 - generator Yogendra Gupta , director of the Washington State University Institute for Shock Physics , said in a statement . " It is not only the inviolable — it has beautiful optical properties and a very high thermal conductivity . Now we have made the hexagonal form of infield , produced under shock absorber compression experiments , that is importantly stiffer and stronger than regular gem diamonds . "
Cubic diamonds usually form more than 90 mile ( 150 kilometers ) beneath Earth ’s surface , under extreme pressures many clip groovy than the crushing depth of the abstruse sea , and temperatures beyond 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit ( 1,500 point Celsius ) . But to form hexangular diamonds , the investigator emulate the high - energy impact of a shooting star strike , using powder and compressed atmosphere to set up the plumbago disks at incredible speeds . As the disks slam into a wall , the shockwaves of the impact rapidly transformed the phonograph recording into hexangular diamonds .
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To measure the diamonds ’ strength and stiffness in the fraction of a 2nd before the minerals were smash to smithereens , the researchers give out a well-grounded wave and measured how quickly it traveled through the hexagonal rhombus with a optical maser . ( The reasoned waves have the rhombus density to waver as it moves through , which affects the path length of the laser beam . ) The stiffer a stuff is , the quicker sound moves through it .
It ’s difficult to tell if the hexagonal diamond are harder than the average diamond . Hardness is a measure of how difficult it is to rub a material ’s surface , and the hexagonal diamond did n’t be long enough for the scientists to scratch them .
properly now scientists have n’t figured out a way to create more long - lived hexangular diamonds in the science lab , but if a method acting is discovered , the researchers anticipate a range of uses for them — from more effective practice bit wind , to fancier engagement ring .
" If someday we can produce them and polish them , I conceive they ’d be more in - requirement than three-dimensional diamonds , " Gupta allege . " If somebody say to you , ' appear , I ’m going to give you the choice of two diamonds : one is a lot more rare than the other one . ' Which one would you find fault ? "
The researchers published their findings March 31 in the JournalPhysical Review B.
Originally publish on Live Science .
