Document Type
Letter to the Editor
Publication Date
11-8-2019
Publication Title
APS Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society
Volume
123
Issue
19
First page number:
1
Last page number:
6
Abstract
Diamond is the quintessential superhard material widely known for its stiff and brittle nature and large electronic band gap. In stark contrast to these established benchmarks, our first-principles studies unveil surprising intrinsic structural ductility and electronic conductivity in diamond under coexisting large shear and compressive strains. These complex loading conditions impede brittle fracture modes and promote atomistic ductility, triggering rare smooth plastic flow in the normally rigid diamond crystal. This extraordinary structural change induces a concomitant band gap closure, enabling smooth charge flow in deformation created conducting channels. These startling soft-and-conducting modes reveal unprecedented fundamental characteristics of diamond, with profound implications for elucidating and predicting diamond’s anomalous behaviors at extreme conditions.
Disciplines
Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics
File Format
File Size
1.339 KB
Language
english
Repository Citation
Liu, C.,
Song, X.,
Li, Q.,
Ma, Y.,
Chen, C.
(2019).
Smooth Flow in Diamond: Atomistic Ductility and Electronic Conductivity.
APS Physical Review Letters, 123(19),
1-6.
American Physical Society.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.195504