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The strength of moissanite

¹ Center for High-Pressure Research and Department of Geosciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794, U.S.A.
² Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, U.S.A.
³ The Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20015, U.S.A.

Correspondence: ^* E-mail: zhang{at}sbmp06.ess.sunysb.edu

The yield strength of moissanite was investigated at pressures up to 18.3 GPa and temperatures up to 1200 °C by analyzing the peak shapes of diffraction lines from a powder sample. At room temperature, the moissanite crystal behaves elastically with increasing pressure up to 13.7 GPa. At higher pressures applied, the sample is yielded; the yield strength of moissanite is determined to be 13.6 GPa. Upon heating at 18.3 GPa, significant stress relaxation is observed at temperatures above 400 °C, and the yield strength of moissanite decreases rapidly from 12.8 GPa at 400 °C to 4.2 GPa at 1200 °C. Such behavior will place severe limitations on the use of moissanite as an anvil material when external heating is desired for high pressure and temperature experiments.