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Ultra-Strong Nanotube Composites

Posted by timothy on from the like-mighty-mouse dept.

TheMatt writes "In a story that makes you say "Cool!", Nicholas Kotov and co-workers have created a nanotube composite material six times stronger than carbon-fiber composites. Their final product is a crosslinked material which appears to be just as strong as silicon carbide and tantalum carbide!"

6 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. No big uses soon... by 0x69 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Here's the closing words of the article...
    "But carbon nanotubes are still expensive to produce, and several teams are looking for production methods that would be viable on a commercial scale." ...so don't expect to see such stuff outside of small-quantity/cost-no-object uses anytime soon.

    The "as hard as some ultrahard ceramic materials used in engineering." description (also from the article) suggests that it won't be much good for space elevator cable anyway. I'd bet than an elevator cable needs to flex some under loads ranging from tidal forces to microimpacts.

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    1. Re:No big uses soon... by Charlton+Heston · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hard is relative. For example, glass is quite hard and brittle, but anyone who has handled a very large pane of glass knows that there is some small amount of flexibility there. Fiber optic cables are also famous for this. Glass fibers, yet the cable has to be flexible enough to lay in a trench.

      A space elevator would be very long, and over that length it would have a lot of flexibility. I'd say that this stuff is quite promising.

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    2. Re:No big uses soon... by Smidge204 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A very good point. A better example would be steel, which can br drawn into wires and woven into extreamely flexible and durable cables. Manufacturing hundred-thousand-mile long cables of the stuff for a space elevator may not be viable based on the describtion of the manufacturing process, though... but definately a step in the right direction!

      The article lacks a lot of "crucial detail" about the material itself. Understandable, since it *is* written for the general public. Hopefully we'll see some hard engineering data for the material listed sooner or later.

      As for uses... cost never means much to the military. If testing shows it a suitable replacement for mor expensive, heavier materials (for example, aircraft skin), then we'll see an industry grow to satisfy the military demand for it, and eventualy spill over into the civilian market.

      =Smidge=

    3. Re:No big uses soon... by dnnrly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Have you seen Formula 1 racing recently? There's no such thing as too expensive to teams like Ferrari of McClaren. At first glance, this meterial could replace the carbon-fibre brake discs used at the moment (this all depends on the heat characteristics). It might also be used in their suspension systems. Anything that is lighter, is usually better! Knowing F1, even if they have to spend $10 million on a set of brake discs for the season, if it works better, they'll buy!

  2. Re:Flexibility? Tech usefulness? by littlerubberfeet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Flexibility isn't an issue. imagine eachnanotube as a molecule. like steel or carbon, it can probably be patterened in such a way as to make it have enough flexibility.

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  3. Re:too expensive, but cool nontheless by homer_ca · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why? A super strong computer case made out of carbon nanotube composite would weigh less than a cardboard box. Can't hurt someone much with that.