A new route to a superhard material?

Calculations show that squeezing a soft polymer could turn it into beta-carbon nitride, a material thought to be harder than diamond.

References:

Kroll, P., and R. Hoffmann. 1999. Theoretical tracing of a novel route from molecular precursors through polymers to dense, hard C₃N₄ solids. Journal of the American Chemical Society 121(May 19):4696.

Further Readings:

Wu, C. 1998. As hard as diamond? Science News 154(July 11):28.

Sources:

Yip-Wah Chung
Northwestern University
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Evanston, IL 60208

Peter Kroll
Cornell University
Department of Chemistry
Baker Laboratory
Ithaca, NY 14853-1301
Web site: http://www.chem.cornell.edu/

From Science News, Vol. 155, No. 23, June 5, 1999, p. 367. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.

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