Unprecedented plastic flow channel in gamma-B-28 through ultrasoft bonds: A challenge to superhardness

A longstanding controversy remains whether gamma-B-28 is intrinsically superhard or not, i.e., H-upsilon >= 40 GPa. Here we perform comprehensive investigations on the mechanical properties of gamma-B-28 to reveal the plasticity and failure mode of gamma-B-28 through the unique combination of microindentation experiment, the ideal strength approach, and the ab initio informed Peierls-Nabarro model. A low load-invariant hardness of similar to 30 GPa is found for both polycrystalline and monocrystalline gamma-B-28. By carefully checking the strength anisotropy and strain facilitated phonon instability, a surprising ideal strength of 23.1 GPa is revealed along the (001)[010] slip system for gamma-B-28, together with an inferior Peierls stress of 3.2 GPa, both of which are close to those of B6O and ZrB12 yet much lower than those of diamond and c-BN. These results suggest that gamma-B-28 could not be intrinsically superhard. Atomistic simulation and electronic structure analysis uncover an unprecedented plastic flow channel through the specific ultrasoft bonding, which causes a dramatic softening of gamma-B-28. These findings highlight an approach to quantifying the realistic hardness by means of two plasticity descriptors beyond the elastic limit, i.e., the ideal strength approach and the Peierls-Nabarro model.