Researchers from Brown University have experimentally identified a material with a higher melting point than any known substance.

The research team used computer simulations to discover that a material made of hafnium, nitrogen and carbon would have a melting point of more than 4,400 kelvins (7,460 degrees Fahrenheit).Researchers used computer simulations to discover that a material made of hafnium, nitrogen and carbon would have a melting point of more than 4,400 kelvins (7,460 degrees Fahrenheit). Image credit: Axel van de Walle, Brown University That is about two-third the temperature at the surface of the sun.

The next step, which the researchers are undertaking now, is to synthesize material and corroborate the findings in the lab.

"The advantage of starting with the computational approach is we can try lots of different combinations very cheaply and find ones that might be worth experimenting with in the lab," says Axel van de Walle, associate professor of engineering.

The researchers used a computational technique that infers melting points by simulating physical processes at the atomic level, following the law of quantum mechanics. From there, they found that a compound with hafnium, nitrogen and carbon would have a similarly high heat of fusion but a smaller difference between the entropies of the solid and the liquid. When they calculated the melting point using their computational approach, it came out 200 kelvins higher than the previous experimental record.

"Melting point is a really difficult prediction problem compared to what has been done before," says van de Walle. "For the modeling community, I think that's what is special about this."

He says it is unclear whether the compound itself will be a useful material.

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