Approaching diamond’s theoretical elasticity and strength limits

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 orientati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2019-12, Vol.10 (1), p.5533-7, Article 5533
Main Authors: Nie, Anmin, Bu, Yeqiang, Li, Penghui, Zhang, Yizhi, Jin, Tianye, Liu, Jiabin, Su, Zhang, Wang, Yanbin, He, Julong, Liu, Zhongyuan, Wang, Hongtao, Tian, Yongjun, Yang, Wei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
119/118
147/143
639/301/1023/303
639/301/357/537
Defects
Deformability
Dependence
Diamonds
Elastic deformation
Elastic limit
Elasticity
First principles
Formability
Graphene
Humanities and Social Sciences
Mechanical properties
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Tensile strain
Tensile strength
Transmission electron microscopy
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Summary: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. While diamond is the strongest natural material, it fails to reach its theoretical elasticity limits and is brittle. Here, the authors show that thin -orientated diamond nanoneedles can reach diamond’s theoretical strength and elasticity limits in tension.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-13378-w