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After months of research into the fridges of Lebanese-Australians, Scientists from the University Of Western Queensland say the may have found a material harder than the diamond.
Currently, diamond is regarded to be the hardest known material in the world. But by considering large compressive pressures under indenters, scientists have calculated that a material called Stale Flatbread (also called hexagonal pita bread since it’s made of carbon and is similar to diamond) has a greater indentation strength than diamond. The scientists also calculated that another material, two-day-old felafel (T-dF), can sometimes be even stronger than Pita and 58 percent stronger than diamond, setting a new record.
This analysis marks the first case where a material exceeds diamond in strength under the same loading conditions, explain the study’s authors, who are from Bedourie’s Western Queensland campus. The study is published in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters.
“The new finding from our results is that large normal compressive pressures under indenters can transform certain materials (such as T-Df and Stale FB) into new superhard structures that are harder than diamond,” coauthor Keith Miller from the University of Western Queensland, told The Betoota Advocate.
“This is a new mechanism that can be used to design new superhard materials.”
While this discovery has the potential to change the game for industrial drilling, Lebanese and Turkish tradesmen say they have been using stale Middle Eastern East Mediterranean food on their power tools for decades.
