BaIn2S4, BaIn2S4:Ho3+, BaIn2S4:Er3+, BaIn2S4:Tm3+, BaIn2Se4, BaIn2Se4:Ho3+, BaIn2Se4:Er3+, and BaIn2Se4:Tm3+ single crystals were grown by the chemical transport reaction method. The optical energy gap of the single crystals was found to be 3.057, 2.987, 2.967, 2.907, 2.625, 2.545, 2.515, and 2.415 eV, respectively, at 11 K. The temperature dependence of the optical energy gap was well fitted by the Varshni equation. Broad emission peaks were observed in the photoluminescence spectra of the single crystals. They were assigned to donor–acceptor pair recombination. Sharp emission peaks were observed in the doped single crystals. They were attributed to be due to radiation recombination between the Stark levels of the Ho3+, Er3+, and Tm3+ ions sited in C1 symmetry.

A new method of sintering diamond-silicon carbide composites is proposed. This method is an alternate to the liquid silicon infiltration technique and is based on simultaneous ball milling of diamond and silicon powder mixtures. Composites with fine-grain diamonds embedded in a diamond–SiC nanocrystalline matrix were sintered from these mixtures. Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Raman scattering were used to characterize the ball-milled precursors and the sintered composites. It was found that the presence of diamond micron-size particles in the initial powder mixture promotes milling of silicone particles and their transformation into the amorphous state. Mechanical properties of the composites, sintered from mixtures of different ball-milling history at different pressure–temperature conditions, (6 GPa/1400 °C and 8 GPa/2000 °C) were studied.

Extensive indentation tests were conducted for nineteen different engineering materials ranging from brittle to ductile materials, and including hard ceramics, ductile metals, and a soft organic polymer. Three tetrahedral pyramid indenters with specific face angles β [shallow pyramid (β = 10°), Vickers (β = 22°), and sharp pyramid (β = 40°) indenters] were used. All the materials tested were subjected to the quadratic load P and penetration depth h relationship P = k1h2 on loading, and most of the tested materials to the quadratic unloading relationship of P = k2(h − hr)2 with the residual depth hr after a complete unload. To determine the contact area at peak indentation load, a specially designed depth-sensing instrument was constructed, on which the contact behavior during loading/unloading was examined by through thickness observation of transparent specimens. All the characteristic indentation parameters were investigated on the basis of simple elastoplastic model, and correlated well with the nondimensional strain E′ tan β/H, in which the elastic modulus E′ was a measure for elasticity, true hardness H was a measure for plasticity, and the inclined face angle β characterized the indenter. The ratio of the conventional Meyer hardness HM to the true hardness H of the materials tested ranged from 0.2 to 0.9 as a function of E′ tan β/H. The cavity model suggested that true hardness H is expressed by the yield stress Y through a constraint factor C as H = C · Y with C ≈ 5.