Team Makes Diamonds Harder Than in Nature

Artificial diamonds made from gas turned out surprisingly hard -- harder even than natural diamonds, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

Writing in the online issue of Physica Status Solidi, a team at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory in Washington said they grew the crystals using a process called high-growth rate chemical vapor deposition, in which hydrogen gas and methane are bombarded with charged particles in a chamber.

The diamonds were heated to 3,632 degrees Fahrenheit and put under high pressures for 10 minutes.