Nanotubes Start to Show their Promise

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!"

Comments

It'll never be built

[Colin Smith]

A space elevator gives you serial access to space. Rockets give you parallel access. Rockets will always be cheaper.

Re:Space elevators will never work

[Colin Smith]

What? Um, how much do you think it's going to cost to build and run?

The ISS is 35 billion plus so far and that's nothing compared to a space elevator. Multiply it by 10, 100, 1000? What about loading 10,000 vehicles or 100,000 in order to break even.

In the meantime the Russians and others in the private sector are launching equivalent payloads for peanuts comparatively. In order to "work" economically, a space elevator will require government subsidy, just like trains.

About time.

[Liam Slider]

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.

Super-cheap nanotubes? About fucking time. We've been hearing about nanotubes for years, their possible use in computers, all their various other properties... It certainly took them long enough to discover a cheap way to make them.