Science Alert August 13, 2021
An international team of researchers (China, Sweden, USA – Harvard university, Germany, Russia) has discovered the critical proportion of crystallized and amorphous carbon needed to create a glass with remarkable properties that won’t weaken under intense pressure. By subjecting spheres of carbon atoms to intense pressure and baking at temperatures between 1,000 and 1,200 degrees Celsius they obtained glassy materials dubbed AM – I, II and III. After tests they mapped the way the atoms bonded with one another, showing they all operated as a semiconductor on a level comparable with amorphous silicon. After Vickers hardness test, they found AM-III to be the hardest amorphous solid to date…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ