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Nanotubes Start to Show their Promise

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the now-lay-me-some-sugar dept.

Rei writes "Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have developed the highest quality nanotube sheets to date (the team previously set strength records with polymer-nanotube composites). Producable at a rate comparable to commercial wool spinning, the transparent cloth has exceedingly high conductivity, flexibility, has huge surface area to volume ratios, can potentially be made into very effective OLEDs and thin-film photovoltaic cells, and outperforms even our best bulk materials (such as Mylar and Kevlar) at strength normalized to weight. It strongly absorbs microwaves for localized heating (leading to applications in seamless microwave welding of sections and even windshield warming), changes conductivity little over a wide temperature range (very useful in sensors), and is expected to be used in commercial applications very soon. The research should even be expandable to artificial muscles! To head people off, while the exact tensile strength is not listed, it sounds like it is still far from the >100 GPa needed for a space elevator. Anyways, here's to process advancements!"

4 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. Space elevators by onion2k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To head people off, while the exact tensile strength is not listed, it sounds like it is still far from the >100 GPa needed for a space elevator.

    Why do they say they're going to enter the material into some space elevator competition at the end of the article then?

    --
    http://twitter.com/onion2k
    1. Re:Space elevators by MaestroSartori · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The authors also say that, with further tweaking, their nanotube sheets may be useful for building a space elevator tether. They're planning to put the sheets to the test by entering the Spaceward Foundation's Elevator:2010 contest.


      Emphasis mine. Seems to suggest that they think they're not too far away from it, so you're not totally off the mark, but we all know that the last few tweaks can be the bit that don't work, relegating this to other uses...
      --
      Game dev and music blog
    2. Re:Space elevators by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's just modern journalism.
      It used to be Who What When Where and How, now it's May Might Could HelpTo and SomeDay.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  2. Re:Ummm, that doesn't even begin to sound safe. by fish+waffle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, I'm going to have a microwave generator going in my car, aiming the the windshield, just to warm it up.

    Don't be silly. It'll just use the ambient microwave radiation we're pouring out now for communications. I'm more worried that with the windshield absorbing all the microwaves my coffee will no longer stay warm in the car.