A microindentation technique was employed to estimate the fracture toughness of human enamel. A pattern of increasing fracture toughness values existed from incisal to cervical in incisor enamel. Statistical analysis indicated that the molar enamel was more brittle than either the canine or incisor enamel. It was observed that the cracks emanating from the corners of an indentation propagated preferentially, with the weakest path of fracture usually extending along the cervical-incisal axis.

Spatially resolved electron field emission measurements from a nanocrystalline diamond film grown by plasma-enhanced chemical transport deposition have been obtained using a scanning probe apparatus with micrometer resolution. Macroscopic regions with a high emission site density, and turn-on fields below 3 V/μm, comprised approximately 1/2 of the total sample area. The emitting and the nonemitting regions of the specimen are differentiated distinctly by Raman spectra and subtly by morphologies. Both areas are largely sp3-bonded, but only the nonemitting regions exhibit a sharp line at 1332 cm−1, a well-known signature of diamond in larger crystallites.

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