International. 
Scientists at Tomsk Polytechnic University (Russia) created coatings for state-of-the-art cutting tools, which they say will not only be resistant, but also suitable for the treatment of most materials. The researchers developed a technology to produce thin films of diamond and cubic boron nitride from a mixture of gases.
Diamond coatings, due to their hardness have been widely used in the manufacture of cutting tools. They are used for the treatment of some metal alloys, ceramics, carbon composite materials, but it is ineffective for iron and steel: at high temperature carbon interacts with these metals and gradually collapses. To solve this problem, the scientists proposed to develop a composite coating based on diamond and cubic boron nitride. It is the hardest material known.
Cubic boron nitride is not destroyed by contact with iron and steel, making the tool almost "invincible". "No one has yet synthesized cubic boron nitride coatings in the form of polycrystalline carbon. We want to use the proximity of the crystal lattice of substance and diamond. This similarity allows a growth of cubic boron nitride crystals into diamond crystals. Our coating integrates the properties of diamond and nitride coatings, it will be applicable to most metals," explained Stepan Linnik, a research engineer at TPU's Institute of High Physical Technology.
Image: Tomsk Polytechnic University.
