Intrinsic hardness of crystalline solids

The current status of various theoretical approaches to the “prediction” of material hardness has been reviewed. It is shown that the simple empirical correlation with the shear moduli generally provide very good estimates of the Vickers hardness. Semi-empirical models based solely on the strength o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of superhard materials Vol. 32; no. 3; pp. 177 - 191
Main Author Tse, J. S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Heidelberg Allerton Press, Inc 01.06.2010
Subjects
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Physical Chemistry
Theory of Hardness and Superhard Materials
Vickers hardness
first-principles calculations
bulk modulus
shear modulus
chemical bond strength
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ISSN1063-4576
1934-9408
DOI10.3103/S1063457610030044

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Summary:The current status of various theoretical approaches to the “prediction” of material hardness has been reviewed. It is shown that the simple empirical correlation with the shear moduli generally provide very good estimates of the Vickers hardness. Semi-empirical models based solely on the strength of the chemical bonds, although performed as well, are theoretically incomplete. First-principles calculations of the ideal stress and shear strength is perhaps the most reliable and theoretically sound approach available to compare theoretical predictions with experiment.
ISSN:1063-4576
1934-9408
DOI:10.3103/S1063457610030044