We all know that diamond is used for cutting glass. Diamond is regarded to be the hardest naturally occurring substance in the world. It can easily exert the force required for cutting the glass.
But soon we will have a glass that can scratch a diamond’s surface
Diamonds are the most scratch-resistant material known to humanity, but this is going to change soon.
An international team of scientists led by researchers from China’s Yanshan University has developed a yellow-tinted glass as hard as diamond. It is so hard that it can easily leave a scratch on the surface of a diamond. Scientists have tentatively named this material AM-III, it is even capable of conducting electricity.
AM-III is made completely of carbon that was heated and cooled slowly
The researchers created the material by crushing a carbon molecule known as buckminsterfullerene, or C60 under high pressure. Intense heat and pressure of about 25 GPa and 1,200 degrees Celsius were applied in an experimental chamber for about 12 hours, spending an equal amount of time cooling the material.
The yellowish tinted glass is made entirely of carbon, it reached 113 gigapascals (GPa) in a Vickers hardness test. But in comparison, a natural diamond stone usually scores 50 to 70 on the GPa scale.
The new glass could be used in solar cells and bulletproof windows
