There are very useful materials in the world such as graphene that are used for a multitude of things and that also have great hardness and resistance. Diamond is another material that has extraordinary hardness and it is practically impossible to make a mark on it. However, Chinese scientists have created a glass that has the same hardness as a diamond and can therefore scratch it.
Right now this new crystal is called AM-III . It has a transparent appearance although it has a yellow touch. It is made entirely of carbon and during hardness tests it showed enormous hardness , even exceeding the hardness of diamond or other materials that have been created artificially.
How is a glass so resistant?
This has been just the first stone and it could take a long time to manufacture them in large quantities for use in everyday life. For example, it could be used to create protective glass in maximum security locations or for other applications in technology.
It also has a characteristic that makes it a semiconductor element so electricity can move through it.
It is somewhat complex to understand its structure , since glass is very fragile and it is contradictory to say that one was created so strong. However, this creation is a glass with crystals inside, which gives it that resistance.
There were many tests that were carried out to create the structure of this new material, putting different atoms and molecules in different orders and compositions in order to check which one offered the greatest hardness, and the AM-III was the one in which all its components presented the highest order. components and offered all that resistance.
This aspect of the new material could not be further increased since then the semiconductor capacity of electricity would be lost.
One of the key molecules during the glass development process was fullerene , which has a hollow structure made up of carbon atoms.
Other countries have collaborated in the development
In the tests it was exposed to extreme temperatures for more than half a day (more than 1,000 degrees) to see how it behaved and if it would end up turning into a diamond or if, as it happened, it became the AM-III. They also let it cool for the same time they heated it up.
It should be noted that its creation would not have been possible without the collaboration of other countries such as the USA, Russia, Sweden or Germany, which gave ideas and made their contributions to scientists in China.
There are several materials that have been created artificially and that have extraordinary resistance , but many of them have limitations.
However, the AM-III can be produced in many sizes and shapes. Also, this is hard everywhere, unlike the diamond that is only hard in some areas.
Any material that is manufactured with AM-III will be greatly strengthened thanks to the properties that the material possesses.
