Start here · Essential guide
Superhard Materials and What Makes Them Hard
Why diamond, cubic boron nitride and a few other solids resist scratching and indentation: short, strong, directional bonds in a rigid three-dimensional network.
Carbon And Hard Materials
Superhard Materials
Diamond alongside other very hard materials and how they compare.
Bond Types for Superabrasive Tools
How resin, metal and vitrified bonds hold diamond and cubic boron nitride grains in a tool, and why the choice shapes cutting, wear and finish.
Boron Carbide in Armor and Blast Nozzles
Why boron carbide, a very hard and unusually light ceramic, is used in armor plates and abrasive blasting nozzles, and where its limits lie.
Cubic Boron Nitride and How It Differs From Diamond
Cubic boron nitride is the second hardest common material and the usual choice over diamond for hardened steel and other ferrous work. Here is why.
Fracture Toughness Versus Hardness
Hardness and fracture toughness are different properties, and the hardest materials are often the most sensitive to flaws. Here is how engineers weigh both.
Hardness Testing Methods for Hard Materials
How Vickers, Knoop, Rockwell and nanoindentation tests work, and why hardness values for the same hard material change with load, tip and method.
Silicon Carbide as an Abrasive and Structural Ceramic
Silicon carbide works both as a grinding grit and as a heat-resistant engineering ceramic. Here is how one compound serves two quite different roles.
Tungsten Carbide and Cemented Carbides
Cemented carbides combine hard tungsten carbide grains with a metal binder, giving the tough, wear-resistant material behind most cutting and mining tools.
Why Diamond Struggles With Steel
Diamond is the hardest material, yet it wears quickly on steel. The reason is chemistry: carbon and iron interact at cutting temperatures.
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