Approaching diamond’s theoretical elasticity and strength limits

Anmin Nie, Yeqiang Bu, Penghui Li, Yizhi Zhang, Tianye Jin, Jiabin Liu, Zhang Su, Yanbin Wang, Julong He, Zhongyuan Liu, Hongtao Wang (), Yongjun Tian () and Wei Yang
Additional contact information
Anmin Nie: Yanshan University
Yeqiang Bu: Zhejiang University
Penghui Li: Yanshan University
Yizhi Zhang: Zhejiang University
Tianye Jin: Center for Precision Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Jiabin Liu: Zhejiang University
Zhang Su: Yanshan University
Yanbin Wang: University of Chicago
Julong He: Yanshan University
Zhongyuan Liu: Yanshan University
Hongtao Wang: Zhejiang University
Yongjun Tian: Yanshan University
Wei Yang: Zhejiang University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Diamond is the hardest natural material, but its practical strength is low and its elastic deformability extremely limited. While recent experiments have demonstrated that diamond nanoneedles can sustain exceptionally large elastic tensile strains with high tensile strengths, the size- and orientation-dependence of these properties remains unknown. Here we report maximum achievable tensile strain and strength of diamond nanoneedles with various diameters, oriented in , and -directions, using in situ transmission electron microscopy. We show that reversible elastic deformation depends both on nanoneedle diameter and orientation. -oriented nanoneedles with a diameter of 60 nm exhibit highest elastic tensile strain (13.4%) and tensile strength (125 GPa). These values are comparable with the theoretical elasticity and Griffith strength limits of diamond, respectively. Our experimental data, together with first principles simulations, indicate that maximum achievable elastic strain and strength are primarily determined by surface conditions of the nanoneedles.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13378-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-13378-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13378-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().