Ultra-Strong Nanotube Composites

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!"

Comments

How do you work with it?

[Gerry Gleason]

Obviously this is still at a research stage, but I have to wonder what will be involved in making structures out of it. The alternate dipping process sounds like a bit of a hack, but it probably can be adapted for creating macro structures. There was a time when carbon fibers were so exotic that you weren't allowed to use them in American Cup yachts, and now it's everywhere. I wonder if you could combine the two components by spraying them from seperate nozzles, or something. Then maybe you could coat a mold with the componite much like they spray chopped strand and poly resin into boat molds.

They don't give much detail on anything. They seem to be saying the material is both strong and stiff, but you might be able to play with the properties