Newly synthesized AM-III carbon is the hardest and strongest amorphous material to date

A team of researchers affiliated with a multitude of institutions around the world have synthesized an AM-III carbon which is the hardest and strongest amorphous material created to date. In their article published in the journal National scientific journal, the group describes the process they used to create their new material and suggests possible uses for it.

In this new effort, the researchers set out to create a new type of glass that would be exceptionally strong. To this end, they subjected the fullerenes to very high temperatures and tremendous pressures and in doing so produced what they called AM-III, a type of glass containing crystals that measures higher on the test. Vickers hardness than many diamonds.

When you look at a diamond under a microscope, the carbon atoms and molecules that make up its crystal structure are very well aligned – glass, on the other hand, has very little order. This difference explains why diamonds are so hard and why glass shatters so easily. Previous research has shown that diamonds can be made by exposing graphite to high temperatures and pressures, the same way they are created by nature. In this new work, the researchers instead used fullerenes, carbon structures in the form of hollow cages. They also slowed down the process, heating and pressing their material for about 12 hours, a measure to keep the material from turning into diamond.

The resulting material, AM-III carbon, is yellowish, without a defined structure, and is very strong. The researchers note that the AM-III is about ten times harder than steel and should be a bit better at stopping bullets than most vest tech. To prove its toughness, they used a sample to cut a deep scratch into a diamond. The researchers note that the toughness comes from the composition of the material – it has ordered microstructures like crystals, as well as unordered glass, making it part glass and part crystal. It also makes the material a semiconductor with a bandgap similar to silicon. For this reason, the researchers suggest that their new material could prove useful in solar panel products.

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