A squad of physicists has visualise out how to bend infield , according to a fresh report . Okay , we ’re talking about nano - shell diamond needles here . But it ’s an telling effort , because while diamond are known for their hardness , these rocks will break if they are bent even a tiny bit .
In a new experimentation , engineers managed to create midget diamond “ needles ” that can bend back and forward without snapping .
“ We were excited to see how much these nano - needles could deform and extend , ” survey writer Ming Dao from MIT told Gizmodo . “ This much elastic deformation is a surprise to many people . ”
The researchers engrave the diamonds into little needles , each a little over two micrometer gauge ( 2,000 nanometre ) tall , on a Si surface , and confirmed they really were diamonds using an negatron microscope . They used a gravid diamond indenter to push the summit of the phonograph needle as far as 442 nanometers horizontally , and watched as the needles returned to their original locating . They tried to push them even further and watched the needles snatch once the tip had been move 464 millimicron . The resolution of the work arepublished today in Science .
Why did n’t the diamond centering ? Dao explained that smaller is stronger when it amount to bending , proportionately . to boot , the nano - needles do n’t have any defects which could make them more brittle ; it ’s more difficult to obviate defects in larger objects ’ structures .
“ When cloth are made at the nanoscale , they have incredibly interesting and unique dimension compare to bulk materials of the same composition , ” Heidi Culver , postdoctoral associate degree not involve in the study who researches materials science at the University of Colorado , Boulder , recite Gizmodo . In other words , while these nano - diamonds are just as much veridical ball field as the kind we wear off in jewellery , they have unlike traits that only seem the show up on these little scales .
Now that we know about the flexibility , Dao ’s paper list a host of potential applications for the nano - needles , let in using them to put in data or to deliver drugs directly into cells , or merely as extremist - strong nanostructures . Before that , he and his team still hope to appraise whether the chemical holding of the diamonds commute under the stress .
Mostly , it ’s just coolheaded . Said Dao : “ It was definitely a surprise . ”
[ Science ]
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