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Graphene Super Paper Is 10x Stronger Than Steel
Elliot Chang writes "The University of Technology in Sydney recently unveiled a new type of graphene nano paper that is ten times stronger than a sheet of steel. Composed of processed and pressed graphite, the material is as thin as a sheet of paper yet incredible durable — this strength and thinness gives it remarkable applications in many industries, and it is completely recyclable to boot."
Apparently the pencil is now mightier than the sword.
now paper airplane takes on all kinds of new meanings...
My understanding is that pure carbon things sublimate into CO2 over time (including diamonds) when exposed to oxygen.
Just out of curiosity, anyone have an idea about the life of these sorts of materials? I'd think that a very thin, sublimating material with large surface area wouldn't last very long.
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
No chance your dog eats your homework now.
Steel is the most recycled material on the planet. It is also plenty strong for most applications. So my question is, how much does this super-nano-paper cost? That will be key in its success.
"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake."...Tyler Durden
Never see it in our lifetimes. Press release from the University is just for publicity, grant funding, likely.
Note that this only refers to tensile strength.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
My only question: Will my Dixon Ticonderoga #2 write on it?
Here is the stress strain graph.
10x stronger than steel in what aspect? Malleability, ductilibility, toughness, or all the above?
Life is not for the lazy.
Strength is just one of many properties.
Stiffness and toughness are very important.
Glass is a great material, it's stiff, and strong, but isn't very tough.
Plastics can be extremely strong and tough, but might not be very stiff.
Then you have to consider design flexibility, repairability too.
Cost is also an issue, for manufacture, and for repair.
I wonder what advantages this paper has over other composite materials (glass, aluminum, boron) or even existing carbon products
Can it give Superman a paper cut?
Aluminium is 3x lighter than steel.
If this material is 10x lighter than steel we would be able to build among others much lighter aircraft.
Of course, I hope we don't have to glue the plane together from A4 sized pieces of "paper".
Could this finally be the answer to economical production of space goats? Traditional materials used for the space goat's electronic brain have either been prohibitively expensive, in short supply, or simply not strong enough to survive in the harsh environs of outer space. This seems to have all three bases covered! Hopefully this means that true, space faring, robotic goats will be something that we see in our generation's lifetime, and the dreams of our ancestors will come true. I, for one, look forward to a future of space-goatin'.
Millions of games of rock-paper-scissors will need to be replayed.
has no meaning
spider silk is also stronger than steel. meaning what? give us the actual conditions under which the statement is rendered, and stop pushing the science lite for idiots
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
If they could not make it transparent, it would be really revolutionary. Considering it's "just" carbon, it does have that potential...
As somebody working with graphene and having read the paper; IMHO this can be improved even further by improving the micro-structure of the material (less defects). Less defects could prolly be achieved by annealing at a higher temperature (in vacuum or argon). Also irradiation with high energy ions could be useful in improving the interlocking of the graphene layers.
Of course higher annealing temperature would make the material more expensive.
Malleability, Ductility, Tensile strength, Hardness, Abrasion resistance, Brittleness, Thermal conductivity, Thermal coefficient of expansion... they mention some of these, but the list goes on quite a ways.
It might be nice and light and easy to cover an airplane with, but if the plane hits a pebble on takeoff will it shatter a wing because it's really brittle? If same plane soaks up a bunch of rays sitting on the tarmac in 110F deg heat, does the stuff expand by a factor of 10? Likewise, when it gets to 40,000 feet does the stuff contract by the same amount? Another issue is shipping the stuff from Australia to wherever.. what kind of carbon footprint comes with the manufacting process and shipping it? Is adopting this stuff mainstream going to heat the planet even more?
I'm sure the stuff is made of awesome , but just sayin... it would be nice to see a little more in-depth info.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
"Graphene offers many advantages over steel â" itâ(TM)s two times as hard, six times lighter and ten times higher in tensile strength." -- Ya, right from the Article.
As a material scientist there are several things about this article that should immediately set off the hype alarm.
1. Graphene is a single sheet of carbon -> this material starts off as graphite, and ends up as graphite. Despite the fancy processing and techniques they have devised, the sample is the thickness of paper, not the thickness of a monolayer of carbon atoms.
2. Failure is a statistical process. Although you can make a sample with great properties, when you scale up to the size of a structural component for a car or a building you will find that the strength decreases dramatically. Imagine the material as a sheet of linked chains. When one chain breaks the ones around it are under more stress and are more likely to break. With a large sheet, you are likely to have an area where several chains are broken together and this crack will propagate throughout the composite. The main thing holding back carbon nanotubes (and carbon graphite sheets) is not cost, it's this statistical failure problem.
Until you see a Weibull plot showing applied load versus probability of failure, don't invest too heavily in structural nanomaterials. Carbon fiber is still king of composites.
All some bright fool needs to do is figure out a way to glue it together like cardboard, and we'll never be able to get our parcels open!
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
...but 10X stronger than a sheet of steel. If these can be used as stationery, gone forever is the excuse: "the dog ate my homework"
still not strong enough for the space elevator tether... so meh
"it’s two times as hard, six times lighter and ten times higher in tensile strength"
Well, to the materials scientists I work with, those words sound like advertising more than useful information.
Two times as hard as steel. Steel in what condition? There is a very wide variety of steel alloys, and these can be heat treated to be as whatever hardness is necessary. Find a piece of mild steel (the kind of stuff you might find at the hardware store) and try to scratch it with something hard. You can scratch it pretty easily, but try again on a piece of stainless steel cutlery and you'll probably find it quite a bit more difficult. Both are steel.
Six times lighter. Per unit volume? Ok, but how do the other characteristics compare given the same volume? Or given the same weight? The article doesn't give any real detail or any frame of reference.
Ten times higher in tensile strength - again, if you want to compare to steel you need to give the alloy grade (grade refers to composition, not quality), and the heat treatment - anyone who's bought nuts and bolts at the hardware store has noticed that these metal items are available in different strength grades even within the same basic metal family.
Those claims sound just like those given for aluminum - it's lighter (per unit volume), stronger (per unit weight), etc. But, in service, where toughness (ie. impact resistance, the ability to deform plastically before fracturing, etc), steel beats aluminum hands down.
Not that I'm a big fan of steel or anything, it's just that these comparisons are often incomplete and therefore meaningless. It's too bad the article writer didn't include any actual mechanical property values.
Putting moderation advice in your
bullet, if the bullet is fired from a WWII period carbine with standard powder load. More powerful than a locomotive, specifically an R100 with a half-load of diesel traveling on level ground, with standard moisture conditions. Able to leap tall buildings, that is any vertical structure with a height of 2,000 meters or less, in a single bound, a bound beind defined as a vertical motion impelled by a single push of the foot against the earth, being level with the first floor of the building's entrance, and also considering stable wind conditions, standard humidity, temperature, and pressure, and no precipitation.
Finally -- the answer to those tough guys who say that I can't punch my way out of a wet paper bag!
Who can't punch their way out of a wet paper bag now, tough guy?
-kgj
Steel is the most recycled material on the planet. It is also plenty strong for most applications. So my question is, how much does this super-nano-paper cost? That will be key in its success.
Steel was once incredibly expensive, a rarity only kings/warlords possessed. Aluminum was once so expensive it was mainly used in the luxury goods of the rich. I think the key to success is usefulness. Cost has more to do with how quickly that success occurs.
Perfectly timed, I must say.
Obviously if it can be made durable enough it might be a wonderful housing material. A cardboard like wall of this stuff might mean the end of wind storms destroying walls and roofs. It also sounds rather ideal for car and truck skins. And a new trombone made of this stuff might also be very interesting. Trurning a 2.5 lb. musical instrument into a three oz. instrument that resist destruction would be a blessing.
...the man of Graphene Paper!
Hmm... somehow it doesn't have the same ring...
Sounds like it has great physical properties, but what about potential hazards? What happens when it burns or is crushed/shredded? Does it burn violently or excessively hot (or cold)? Is the smoke toxic? In mutilated form, does it release toxic or otherwise hazardous particles? Can you handle it with bare hands, and can you handle a torn edge with bare hands? Can it be disposed of normally? What about resistance to solvents and/or petroleum?
If the stuff is hazardous, then it's going to have some severe limits in practical use. The risk of hazardous exposure is going to have to be weighed against the benefits for every application, and hopefully we don't see irresponsible use of a new technology just because it's new. Some of the abuses we see of carbon fiber and li-po batteries in applications that routinely expect to get damaged are examples we shouldn't follow, if this stuff is dangerous when damaged or burned.
How long until we see bicycle frames manufactured out of graphene? Stronger and lighter than steel? If it has reasonable durability and flex qualities then I'm looking forward to it.
Alex, I'll take keybindings not used by Emacs for $400....
Able to leap tall buildings, that is any vertical structure with a height of 2,000 meters or less
Not much of a limitation. That's more than twice the height of the Burj Khalifa.
Kit plane in a book! The instruction manual doubles as the airframe construction material!
I'm glad someone finally put all that ambiguity about Superman's actual abilities to bed. My hat is off to you, sir!
And apparently it is recyclable into boots! Amazing!
I can crumple or rip steel that thin with my bare hands. Big deal.
"Harder, better, faster, stronger
N-n-now that that don't kill me can only make me stronger!"
Encryption: I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to encrypt it...
I can't wait to start making paper airplanes out of this stuf...
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
Think of all the uses. Paper hardhats. Unbreakable contracts. Toilet paper that doesn't tear, for really serious <censored>'s.
Awsome! =)
Could this be used to create body armor?
Also, why would he ever 'leap' if he can fly?
-- The reader anything less than completely failing to not misunderstand this sig is cursed.
Don't know about everyone else, but I tend down-mod stories that have summaries with basic grammar errors in them. Crap like this on the main page makes ./ look bad.
10x stronger than steel sounds great even if it is just tensile strength because tensile strength is what is needed to go to Geosync orbit right? Then with the right solar/laser powered "climber" we have our space elevator right?
I have no idea how many orders of magnitude improvement are needed but I am happy that at least this stuff is being made in macroscopic quantities. (I mean there's an actual PICTURE of it being held by some forceps! Not like the tiny lengths of nanotubes I've heard about).
By the way, wouldn't this make a great Kevlar replacement? Think of really light body armor!
I always figured he wasn't really flying. Instead, he just jumps for a really long time with the ability to change direction in air, like Mario, and even hover for brief periods of time as long as his cape is flapping, also like Mario in the Tanooki suit with his tail flapping.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
...does it blend?
Davo -- Free speech, free software, AND free beer.
Originally, he couldn't fly. In some of the earliest Superman cartoons he's seen not flying, just jumping very very far. Like the Hulk does. A few episodes later in, what I think is the same season of the same show, he is seen flying.
Jet fighters are made of carbon fibre, so swapping one form of carbon for another isn't going to increase any risks. Swapping for a stronger carbon may allow for a lighter frame, though. The drawback is that graphene is a semiconductor and fighters travel at a high enough altitude that there are potential risks of some interesting side-effects.
Now, Formula 1 cars are also made of plastic-reinforced carbon fibre. It is always a great challenge to the teams to build cars that are as light as possible and yet capable of meeting safety requirements that are unimaginably stringent. (I doubt there's a single road car that could handle 250 tonne impacts.) Depending on exactly what directions graphene paper can absorb stresses, it's possible that you could devise much lighter cars that also offer superior protection against those unwanted 240mph collisions. Lacking high levels of cosmic radiation or fly-by-wire controls, F1 cars are also much less likely to suffer any ill-effects from unwanted graphene properties.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Steel is also recyclable...
Do you understand the concept of "summary"? If this were a blog about materials engineering, I might agree with you that such detail is needed. As it is, most people here probably read the summary, thought, "Cool!" and continued reading other articles. Had they had more detailed information, they would have read the summary, thought, "Um... Okay..." and continued reading other articles.
If you're counting on Slashdot to give you detailed technical information in its summaries, perhaps you're reading the wrong blog. If you happen to be a materials engineer and want more detailed technical information, well, that's what TFA is for. The article, which, incidentally, is actually yet another summary of another article from the University of Technology in Sydney, which is a summary of an article in the Journal of Applied Physics, which in turn is a summary of probably a very detailed thesis or dissertation backed by metric craptons of research data by Ali R. Ranjbartoreh, Bei Wang, Xiaoping Shen, and Guoxiu Wang.
See how it works? You start with "10 times stronger!" and it's up to you to dig as deeply as you want to in order to find the level of technical detail and/or interest that suits you. Personally, given that I'm not a materials engineer and that "10 times stronger!" is good enough to suit my level of interest and make me say, "Cool!", I'm actually glad that more technical details were not provided.
Yes, but how many Library of Congresses is that?
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Any offense taken to this post is at your sole discretion.
Any time there's a story like this -- discounting the ones that are obviously bullshit, purely theoretical, and/or glaring violations of the Second Law -- there's a certain number of people who pile on with comments that boil down to, "It's not perfect for all possible applications, so screw it."
Get used to it. We've already done most of the easy, general stuff. We'll stumble across some more every great once in a while, but from here on out, most of it is going to be hard-won and highly specific, and when it seems like we've made a giant breakthrough, it's going to be the result of countless threads of research converging, not some singular Eureka! moment.
Of course, it's always been that way to some extent. People notice the first time something is accomplished -- the light bulb, powered flight, organ transplants -- but never hear about or pay attention to the innumerable incremental improvements that are made after the initial splash, even if our daily lives depend on them in ways too numerous to mention. And that still ignores the fact that the "initial breakthrough" is usually the result of years or generations of tireless work.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
Well done sir, perfect capture of the pedants above.
fewer defects
So now I can have paper clothes that are bullet proof!
sign my petition "Congressional Reform Act of 2011". http://www.thepetitionsite.com/31/congressional-reform-act-of-2011/
Like the beaver, it's just Dam one thing after another
Plastic is recyclable. So what?
How about more biodegradable substances?
I'm thinking the military could make vests from this stuff formed with many parabolic shapes. Ricochets would work just like light bouncing off of road signs.
"Shoot me, Wally, shoot me. Go ahead."
Does Yomiko Readman know about this?
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
God, is there an internet rule that states that for any reasonably technical topic that there will be an xkcd comic for it? =)
There is now...
Necessarily there will also be a xkcd about this
And since it will be a xkcd about the law that there is a xkcd for everything technical/geeky it will be self-referential. Which will make it even more geekier, if that's even possible with xkcd.
Now, truly, paper beats rock.
When I first heard about graphene I thought it was a bit overhyped. I was kind of ok, single layers of carbon, very nice, so what. But it seems it's driving a fair amount of aplicability so I was probably at least a bit wrong. I'm gonna pick the nanopore utility for dna sequencing probably the closer to my background and health.
To find related research and funding check the non-profit tool AgingPortfoilio.Org
Maybe we can use a sheet of it to make a CNT burrito that will generate zero point energy?