Overview: New UltraHard Materials

Although diamond is the hardest known material, it has many shortcomings for industrial applications. The aim of the New Ultra Hard Material focus area is to apply various techniques toward the prediction and understanding of a wide variety if potentially new hard materials.

Theoretical Computational Modelling (Prof. J.E. Lowther)

• Advanced Quantum Mechanics is able to reliably examine fundamental properties of materials. Various techniques are employed ? ranging from Ab-initio electronic structure to semi-empirical force field approaches to predict properties of new materials.

High Pressure Synthesis (Prof. G.R. Hearne, Prof J.D. Comins)

• Synthesis and characterization of new ultra hard materials using diamond anvils. A very large force is applied to two diamonds situated in anvil and the pressure transmitted onto potentially new ultra hard material. Pressures well beyond 40GPa are frequently attained.

Ion induced processes and Nano hard materials (Prof. E. Sideras-Haddad, Dr D. Naidoo, Prof. K. Bharuth-Ram)

• Highly charged ions interact with materials inducing changes in chemical structure. Various ways of producing structural defects and other forms of new ultra hard materials like nano diamond can be produced.

X-ray Diffraction (Prof. D. Billing)

• X-rays are used to examine the fundamental structure of newly synthesised ultra hard materials. In this way various phases can be identified.