Mother Earth is full of natural riches, including precious stones, in which nature works for thousands and millions of years to form, in the case of diamond, its formation process begins in the earth’s mantle, where there is an abundance of carbon atoms that melt due to high temperatures, to transform into new rocks when the intensity of the heat decreases, then they emerge from the depths by environment of volcanic activity; For centuries there has been a belief that there is no material harder than diamond, but today its ownership is no longer a reality.
A research team at Yale University came up with a new material called Carbon-M, diamond-like hardness for use in industrial and electronic applications, after several experiments in which the existence of an existing form of carbon was confirmed by compressing graphite at high pressures; Leading the research is Professor Kanani KM Lee, who noted, «Our study shows that M-carbon is so extremely compressible and hard, rivaling the extreme properties of diamonds, that it is capable of damaging diamond.» .
Another mineral is lonsdaleite, which is a material 58% harder than diamond., but it is obtained from the collision of a meteorite with the earth, where the basic composition of the meteorite is graphite, thanks to the force of the impact and the heat generated, the graphite is transformed into a material similar to diamond, but maintaining the structure hexagonal crystal of graphite; it can also be synthesized in laboratories by subjecting graphite to high temperatures and pressures; this material is also known as hexagonal diamond.
From a substance formed by pure carbon graphene is born, lighter than aluminum and 100 times stronger than steel, which exceeds the hardness of diamond; In one of the numerous studies carried out on this material, graphene was accidentally transformed into a fragment of platinum with a thin layer of diamond on the outside, but which does not have the natural shape of diamond, which is formed by millions of years deep in the Earth, one of the possible uses scientists are considering is to create diamond moulds.
Numerous studies are carried out every day to discover materials that are more resistant, through nanotechnology the advances are incredible, the case of «carbine», considered a supermaterial, harder, more flexible and resistant than diamond; the expectations in the scientific field are those of the potential and properties of this new material for mass storage devices.
In short, harder materials may be discovered, but diamonds will continue to be, along with gold, the most coveted for the jewelry industry, their beauty is irreplaceable and in garments such as rings, earrings, chains and bracelets they look beautiful.