From our readers: What does 'harder than diamond' mean?

Authors :: Brazhkin, V.
Dubrovinskaia, N.
Nicol, M.
Novikov, N.
Riedel, R.
Solozhenko, V.
Zhao, Y.
Source :: Nature Materials. Sep2004, Vol. 3 Issue 9, p576-577. 2p. 1 Graph.
Publication Year :: 2004
Abstract: Presents an open letter to the materials community. Discussion of the challenges for the measurement of hardness; Result of the incomplete understanding of the relationship between the microscopic and macroscopic behavior of the materials; Establishment of criteria for comparing hardness among very hard substances by providing details regarding the type of indenter, applied loads and sample orientation.