New Hard and Superhard Materials: RhB1.1 and IrB1.35

The research activity into the designing of superhard materials is in continuous progress. Vickers hardness data obtained in this work reveal IrB1.35 to be superhard, whereas RhB1.1 was found to be hard. The trend in hardness of borides of the transition metals, belonging to the 5th and 6th period of the periodic table, was examined.