Hexagonal boron nitride’s remarkable toughness unmasked – Phys.org

It’s official: Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is the iron man of 2D materials, so resistant to cracking that it defies a century-old theoretical description engineers still use to measure toughness.
“What we observed in this material is remarkable,” said Rice University’s Jun Lou, co-corresponding author of a Nature paper published this week. “Nobody expected to see this in 2D materials. That’s why it’s so exciting.”
Lou explains the significance of the discovery by comparing the fracture toughness…

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