New Materials with remarkable strengths and unusual properties / Nanotubes and Buckypaper
New Materials with remarkable strengths and unusual properties / Nanotubes and Buckypaper
by Auditor #9 on Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:27 am
"So, did Gene Roddenbury get it wrong? Will the Starship Enterprise be little more than a souped up paper aeroplane? "
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Buckpaper could replace steel
Using x-rays to investigate order and function in nanotube systems
Nanotubes are tiny cylindrical molecules just a few nanometers in diameter, but their potential for new technologies is vast. They are extraordinarily strong, conduct electricity well, and can even emit light, properties suitable for many applications, from flat-panel television displays to fuel cells to building materials. But nanotubes must be extensively studied before they can be used in industrial applications.
Image: A rendering of carbon nanotubes being studied using NEXAFS. Light comes in (left) and electrons are emitted (right).
Physorg
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Buckpaper could replace steel
Using x-rays to investigate order and function in nanotube systems
Nanotubes are tiny cylindrical molecules just a few nanometers in diameter, but their potential for new technologies is vast. They are extraordinarily strong, conduct electricity well, and can even emit light, properties suitable for many applications, from flat-panel television displays to fuel cells to building materials. But nanotubes must be extensively studied before they can be used in industrial applications.
Image: A rendering of carbon nanotubes being studied using NEXAFS. Light comes in (left) and electrons are emitted (right).
Physorg
Scientists at Florida State University are dreaming up exciting uses for buckypaper, a material that is 10 times lighter than steel, but potentially 500 times stronger when sheets are pressed together to form a composite.
The material is made of carbon nanotubes that have been disbursed in a liquid suspension and filtered through fine mesh to make a thin film. Its building blocks were first discovered in 1985 (winning those researchers the Nobel Prize), but scientists have recently made great discoveries improving the strength and bonding that they think will lead to consumer applications very soon, possibly within a year.
Buckypaper, which excels are conducting electricity and dispersing heat, may soon be used in electromagnetic shielding and lightning-strike protection on aircraft, electrodes for fuel cells, super capacitors, batteries and a more efficient replacement for graphite sheets to dissipate heat in laptops.
In the future, the material’s greatest potential could be in building light-weight, energy-efficient planes and cars, as well as military armor and stealth technology.
Via Wired
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Re: New Materials with remarkable strengths and unusual properties / Nanotubes and Buckypaper
by riven on Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:39 pm
Nanotubes have been around awhile if you are in that field. The advances are still far short of making it a commercial reality. The main problem is long term stability. Currently there is no exact data on when a nanotube structure will fail or what stress it will take. So there you are drivinbg away and boom.
When they become viable their applications will be huge. Lightweight and stong are underestimations. This stuff amkes titanium look soft and is dirt cheap.
When they become viable their applications will be huge. Lightweight and stong are underestimations. This stuff amkes titanium look soft and is dirt cheap.