Tag: wurtzite

Wurtzite Boron Nitride Hardness

wurtzite boron nitride hardness

Scientists have discovered that a rare mineral called wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) is harder than diamond, making it the new title holder of the world’s hardest material. The discovery is a surprise because, while w-BN is hard enough to resist an indentation test under the force of 18% more stress than diamond, it only occurs naturally in volcanic eruptions.

This substance is so rare that scientists haven’t been able to study it in sufficient amounts or create samples that can be tested by experiment. Researchers have tried to synthesize a similar material, lonsdaleite, but this requires extremely high temperatures and pressures.

Wurtzite boron nitride is composed of atoms of boron and nitrogen, alongside carbon. It is chemically and thermally stable, and is used in a range of applications including resistance materials, antiwear additives, and heat shield materials.

Cubic boron nitride is another typical form of the metal, and shares the same crystalline structure as diamond. The boron and nitrogen atoms alternately bond. The resulting c-BN is much less stable than hexagonal boron nitride, but it is still quite strong at room temperature.

Boron nitride has several allotropes, and there are four main types: amorphous, hexagonal, cubic and wurtzite. Allotropes have a different crystal structure, and they have different properties.

Hexagonal boron nitride is the second-hardest of the allotropes, and it is made by treating hexagrams of b-BN under high pressure and temperature. It has a similar crystalline structure to diamond, but the boron and nitrogen atoms are covalently bonded in different planes, so it has very different properties than diamond.


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    wurtzite boron nitride hardnessScientists have discovered that a rare mineral called wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) is harder than diamond, making it the new title holder […]

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