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Yes. In a 2016 study, researchers reported making nanocrystalline lonsdaleite—the hexagonal form of diamond—from glassy carbon using a diamond anvil cell at 100 GPa and 400 °C. They recovered the sample and examined it with diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy. The result showed that this form of diamond could be synthesized under those conditions; it did not establish that lonsdaleite is harder than ordinary diamond or that it can be made practically at commercial scale.

What lonsdaleite is—and what the study reported

Lonsdaleite is diamond with a hexagonal crystal structure, in contrast to the cubic structure of ordinary diamond. In their 2016 paper, Thomas B. Shiell and colleagues reported synthesizing almost-pure lonsdaleite from glassy carbon. They recovered nanocrystalline material at ambient conditions and used diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy to analyze it. Read the paper in Scientific Reports.

The paper’s abstract gives 100 GPa and 400 °C as the reported synthesis conditions. These figures describe the researchers’ experiment, not a general recipe or a demonstrated production process.

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How the diamond anvil cell experiment worked

Compression and heating

A diamond anvil cell compresses a tiny sample between opposing diamond tips. In this experiment, the glassy-carbon sample was heated to 400 °C while pressure rose as high as 112 GPa during a two-hour run. The reported synthesis conditions were 100 GPa and 400 °C; 112 GPa is the run’s stated maximum pressure, not a replacement for the paper’s reported synthesis figure.

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The lonsdaleite formed in an annular region of the sample. The researchers recovered the material after the high-pressure treatment and characterized it outside the cell.

The proposed role of strain

The authors proposed that intense radial plastic flow during compression helped lower the energy barrier to the transformation. In their explanation, this flow locked graphene sheets into favorable stacking arrangements that could form the hexagonal diamond structure. First-principles calculations supported this proposed mechanism, but the mechanism is the authors’ interpretation of their observations, not a separately demonstrated production rule.

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How this differed from earlier reports

The study addressed earlier static-compression reports of recoverable lonsdaleite that had required temperatures above 800 °C, according to contemporaneous coverage by Chemistry World. The 2016 work therefore reported synthesis at a substantially lower temperature: 400 °C. It still required pressure around 100 GPa and specialized diamond-anvil equipment.

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Aspect 2016 Shiell et al. report Earlier static-compression context
Starting material Glassy carbon More ordered graphitic materials, as summarized in the contemporaneous coverage
Temperature 400 °C reported synthesis condition Above 800 °C in earlier reports, according to Chemistry World’s 2016 summary
Pressure and apparatus Diamond anvil cell; 100 GPa reported synthesis condition, with pressure reaching up to 112 GPa during a two-hour run Static compression; comparable exact pressure and apparatus details are not stated in the cited summary
Evidence for product phase Diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy of recovered nanocrystalline material Not stated in the cited summary
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What the result does not show

It does not establish greater hardness

The study did not resolve whether its lonsdaleite sample was harder than ordinary diamond. Co-author Jodie E. Bradby said accurate measurement was difficult because of the sample’s dimensions and nature: “We are still trying to accurately measure the hardness of our sample. The dimensions and nature of this sample make this a non-trivial experiment.” The synthesis and characterization result should not be turned into a claim of superior hardness.

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It does not demonstrate ordinary manufacturing

A diamond anvil cell and pressure around 100 GPa are specialized research conditions. The paper does not establish a commercial manufacturing route, a consumer product, or a practical application. It also does not establish later independent replication or reassessment, so claims about the current consensus or reproducibility require a review of subsequent literature.

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