Elastic moduli of superhard rhenium diboride

The elastic moduli of polycrystalline rhenium diboride are measured as a function of temperature between 5 and 325 K. The room temperature results show that ReB2 has very high values for both the bulk and shear modulus, confirming the incompressible and superhard nature of this material. With decreasing temperature, the moduli increase, with a hint of softening below 50 K.