(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, diamond is regarded to be the hardest known material in the world. But by considering large compressive pressures under indenters, scientists have calculated that a material called wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) has a greater indentation strength than diamond.
It is well-known since the late 20th-century that there's a form of carbon that's even harder than diamonds: carbon nanotubes. By binding carbon together into a hexagonal shape, it can hold a rigid cylindrical-shaped structure more stably than any other structure known to humankind.
Scientists have found a mineral stronger than diamond Scientists have found a mineral stronger than diamond. They say lonsdaleite could be used to fortify industrial tools like drill bits and saw blades - AND teach us about the evolution of earth.
Diamond is the hardest known material to date, with a Vickers hardness in the range of 70–150 GPa. Diamond demonstrates both high thermal conductivity and electrically insulating properties, and much attention has been put into finding practical applications of this material.
While diamonds and lonsdaleite are both made of carbon - get ready for this - the former has a cubic atomic structure, and the latter has a hexagonal structure. So what's the big difference? That hexagonal structure makes the stone 58% stronger than regular diamonds.
Boron nitride
c-BN is chemically and thermally stable, and is commonly used today as a superhard machine tool coating in the automotive and aerospace industries. But cubic boron nitride is still, at best, just the world's second hardest material with a Vickers hardness of around 50 GPa.
The hardest mineral on the scale, diamond, is given a hardness rating of 10. Since obsidian is rated at 5-6 on Moh's Hardness Scale, it is not stronger than a diamond; it's softer than a diamond.
Diamond is the hardest natural material in the world. However, it's also brittle. Scientifically speaking, hardness measures the ability to resist scratching, nothing more.
Diamond is known to be the hardest and can scratch any other stone. Talc is the softest. Reference minerals in between include gypsum, calcite, fluorite, apatite, orthoclase feldspar, quartz, topaz, and corundum.
While there may not be many naturally-occurring materials out there that are stronger than diamonds, certain man-made metals like tungsten and steel have a higher tensile strength. That means a direct hit with an ordinary hammer can absolutely break a diamond.
Tungsten metal is rated at about a nine on the Mohs scale of hardness. A diamond, which is the hardest substance on earth and the only thing that can scratch tungsten, is rated at a 10.
Diamonds claim an untouchable status as the hardest substance in the world, making them an ideal option for everyday wear as an engagement ring. They score 10 on the Mohs Scale and are impossible to scratch, except by another diamond. Emeralds are much softer gems, scoring a 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale.
Summary: A team of scientists has calculated the strength of the material deep inside the crust of neutron stars and found it to be the strongest known material in the universe.
Talc is the softest mineral on Earth. The Mohs scale of hardness uses talc as its starting-point, with a value of 1.
Graphene remains the strongest material ever measured and, as Professor Hone once put it, so strong that "it would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap.”
Tungsten: The Strongest Metal on Earth
Coming in at an ultimate strength of 1510 Megapascals, tungsten is one of the toughest metals known to man. Besides tungsten's superior strength, the metal also has the highest melting point of any unalloyed metal.
Graphene is known as the strongest material on earth.
Ask most people what the hardest material on Earth is and they will probably answer "diamond". Its name comes from the Greek word ἀδάμας (adámas) meaning "unbreakable" or "invincible" and is from where we get the word "adamant".
Painite : Not just the rarest gemstone, but also the rarest mineral on earth, Painite holds the Guinness World Record for it. After its discovery in the year 1951, there existed only 2 specimens of Painite for the next many decades. By the year 2004, there were less than 2 dozens known gemstones.
Diamond is the hardest known mineral. It is a high-symmetry allotrope of carbon (C). It has a Mohs “scratch” hardness of 10, which makes it the hardest mineral.