In his activities, a person uses various qualities of substances and materials. And not unimportant is their strength and reliability. The hardest materials in nature and those created artificially will be discussed in this article.
Common Standard
To determine the strength of the material, the Mohs scale is used - a scale for assessing the hardness of a material by its reaction to scratching. For the layman, the hardest material is diamond. You will be surprised, but this mineral is only somewhere in the 10th place among the hardest. On average, a material is considered superhard if its values are above 40 GPa. In addition, when identifying the hardest material in the world, the nature of its origin should also be taken into account. At the same time, strength and durability often depend on the impact of external factors on it.
The hardest material on Earth
In this section, we will pay attention to chemical compounds with an unusual crystal structure, which are much stronger than diamonds and may well scratch it. Let's bringtop 6 hardest man-made materials, starting with the least hard.
- Carbon nitride - boron. This achievement of modern chemistry has a strength index of 76 GPa.
- Graphene airgel (aerographene) is a material 7 times lighter than air, which restores its shape after 90% compression. An amazingly durable material that can also absorb 900 times its own weight in liquid or even oil. This material is planned to be used in oil spills.
- Graphene is a unique invention and the most durable material in the universe. A little more about him below.
- Carbine is a linear polymer of allotropic carbon, from which super-thin (1 atom) and super-strong tubes are made. For a long time, no one was able to build such a tube with a length of more than 100 atoms. But Austrian scientists from the University of Vienna managed to overcome this barrier. In addition, if earlier carbine was synthesized in small quantities and was very expensive, today it is possible to synthesize it in tons. This opens up new horizons for space technology and beyond.
- Elbor (kingsongite, cubonite, borazone) is a nanodesigned compound that is widely used today in metal processing. Hardness - 108 GPa.
Fullerite is the hardest material on Earth known to man today. Its strength of 310 GPa is ensured by the fact that it does not consist of individual atoms, but of molecules. These crystals will easily scratch a diamond like a butter knife
The miracle of human hands
Graphene is another invention of mankind based on allotropic modifications of carbon. It looks like a thin film one atom thick, but 200 times stronger than steel, with exceptional flexibility.
It is about graphene that they say that in order to pierce it, an elephant must stand on the tip of a pencil. At the same time, its electrical conductivity is 100 times higher than the silicon of computer chips. Very soon, it will leave laboratories and enter everyday life in the form of solar panels, cell phones and modern computer chips.
Two very rare results of anomalies in nature
In nature, there are very rare compounds that have incredible strength.
- Boron nitride is a substance whose crystals have a specific wurtzite shape. With the application of loads, the connections between the atoms in the crystal lattice are redistributed, increasing the strength by 75%. The hardness index is 114 GPa. This substance is formed during volcanic eruptions, it is very small in nature.
- Lonsdaleite (in the main photo) is an allotropic carbon compound. The material was found in a meteorite crater and is thought to have formed from graphite under the conditions of the explosion. The hardness index is 152 GPa. Rarely found in nature.
Wonders of wildlife
Among the living beings on our planet, there are those who have something very special.
- Web of Caaerostris darwini. The thread that Darwin's spider emits is stronger than steel andharder than kevlar. It was this web that NASA scientists took into service in the development of space protective suits.
- Clam teeth Sea limpet - their fibrous structure is now being studied by bionics. They are so strong that they allow the mollusk to tear off the algae that has grown into the stone.
Iron birch
Another miracle of nature is Schmidt's birch. Its wood is the hardest natural material of biological origin. It grows in the Far East in the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve and is listed in the Red Book. Strength is comparable to iron and cast iron. But it is not subject to corrosion and decay.
The widespread use of Schmidt birch wood, which even bullets cannot penetrate, is hindered by its exceptional rarity.
The hardest of metals
This is a blue-white metal - chrome. But its strength depends on its purity. In nature, it contains 0.02%, which is not at all so small. It is extracted from silicate rocks. Meteorites falling to the Earth also contain a lot of chromium.
It is corrosion resistant, heat resistant and refractory. Chromium is found in many alloys (chromium steel, nichrome) that are widely used in industry and in anti-corrosion decorative coatings.
Stronger together
One metal is good, but some combinations can give the alloy amazing properties.
A super-strong alloy of titanium and gold is the only strong material that has proven to be biocompatible with living tissues. The beta-Ti3Au alloy is so strong that itimpossible to grind in a mortar. It is already clear today that this is the future of various implants, artificial joints and bones. In addition, it can be applied to drilling, sports equipment and many other areas of our lives.
An alloy of palladium, silver and some metalloids can also have similar properties. Scientists from the C altech Institute are working on this project today.
The future at $20 a skein
What is the hardest material anyone in the street can buy today? For just $20, you can buy 6 meters of Braeön tape. Since 2017, it has been on sale from the manufacturer Dustin McWilliams. The chemical composition and method of production are kept in strict confidence, but its qualities are amazing.
Anything can be fastened with tape. To do this, it must be wrapped around the parts to be fastened, heated with an ordinary lighter, the plastic composition must be given the desired shape and that's it. After cooling, the joint will withstand a load of 1 ton.
Both hard and soft
In 2017, information appeared about the creation of an amazing material - the hardest and softest at the same time. This metamaterial was invented by scientists from the University of Michigan. They managed to learn how to control the structure of the material and make it exhibit various properties.
For example, when using it to create cars, the body will be rigid when moving, and soft when colliding. The body absorbs contact energy and protects the passenger.
