Nanodiamond

This book highlights how the properties and structure of materials are affected by dynamic high pressures generated by explosions, projectile impacts, laser compression, electric discharge or ball milling. Starting with the basics of shock-wave physics and an outline of experimental techniques, it then surveys dynamic compressibility and equations of state of various substances, phase transitions and syntheses of novel compounds under shock. It covers various industrial applications including hardening of metals and grinding (fragmentation) of solids, saturation of solids with defects for use as catalysts, production of superhard materials (synthetic diamond, BN (boron nitride)) and nanomaterials, especially nanodiamond, and discusses state-of-the-art techniques such as combining dynamic and static compression to obtain monolithic materials.

During the last decade, fullerenes and carbon nanotubes have attracted special interest as new nanocarbons with novel properties. Because of their hollow caged structure, they can be used as containers for atoms and molecules, and nanotubes can be used as miniature test-tubes.