Internal friction and elastic properties of the high pressure-induced phases of solid C60

Solid C-60 is a new promising material made from giant high-symmetric carbon clusters. Though C-60 molecules are extremely stable at ambient conditions, heat treatment under high pressures induces transformations to other phases, in which some weak van der Waal-type bonding between C-60 molecules is replaced with covalent sp(3) bonds. Many new C-60 high pressure phases (HP) demonstrate a set of unique physical properties including mechanical and elastic ones. This paper is an analytic review of the experimental measurements of the elastic and dissipative properties of solid C-60 (from C-60 single crystal to C-60 ultrahard phase). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.