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| Superstrong Carbon-Nanotube Fibers |
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19 November 2007, for Technology Review Carbon nanotubes spun to form long yarnlike fibers could outperform even the strongest bullet-proof materials on the market, but turning nanotubes into such materials has proved to be a challenge. Now researchers say that they have improved the method of making the fibers: they can pull them from a hot furnace faster, make the nanotubes line up better, and vastly improve their strength.  New carbon nanotube fibers stay strong even when knotted, unlike regular ropes or other superstrong fibers such as Kevlar Carbon nanotubes are pipelike carbon molecules with walls just one atom thick. They are extremely strong, electrically conductive--and hard to make reliably. Many research groups have been toiling to create longer carbon nanotubes and build them into longer strands that could be used for tough fabrics, and even efficient power lines. (See "10 Emerging Technologies.") Alan Windle, a professor of materials science at the University of Cambridge, in England, made and tested the new nanotube fibers along with researchers at the Natick Soldier Research Development Center, in Massachusetts. Windle and his colleagues tugged on the nanotube fibers, finding that the weaker ones snapped at stresses around one gigapascal, making them comparable to steel, gram for gram.... Read the rest of the article on the Technology Review website. Also, click here to watch a video of the fibers being spun from the furnace. |