New Paper Technology is 500 Times Stronger Than Steel
New Paper Technology is 500 Times Stronger Than Steel
Posted 10/23/2008 at 11:21am
| by Alex Castle
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Image Credit: Wikipedia
These days it seems like “nanotube” is sort of a magic word. Scientists will say something crazy like “We’re building an elevator to space” and everyone else asks “How you gonna do that, scientists?” and they just say “carbon nanotubes,” and we’re like “oh, cool.” So go ahead and guess how scientists have created a kind of paper that’s 500 times as strong as steel and only weighs a tenth as much.
That’s right, it’s nanotubes. The paper, called “buckypaper,” is flexible in single sheets, and can be layered to form rigid plates. It’s being rapidly developed for commercial production, for use in everything from armor to laptops to fuel cells.
Ben Wang, one of the professors leading the charge to commercialize buckypaper, explains that the strength of the paper comes from nanotubes’ enormous surface area, saying “If you take a gram of nanotubes, just one gram, and if you unfold every tube into a graphite sheet, you can cover about two-thirds of a football field.”
What do you all think? How might we use this super-strong paper in the future? Hit the jump and let us know.
More like this
dstevens
November 08, 2008 at 10:21am
This is teh second time Max PC has reported on this technology.
I can see some interesting things happening with this in our future.
Buy stock in the company developing this.
You can make everything from Cars to armor to houses to laptops.
Chemically combined properly these can be the core of any surface.
and we can use them as a speaker technology....
oh yeah and they get to be about 70*C.... CHEAP digitally controlled inalid Floor or wall heating anyone?
Keep it coming plz...
mls067
October 23, 2008 at 4:00pm
I'm thinking "Finaly, some toilet paper you can't poke your finger though", but that's just me ;-)
Lord Omega
October 23, 2008 at 7:39pm
XD. I was more thinking along the lines of some paper that you don't blow your nose through, but I guess that works too.
Superfly
October 23, 2008 at 1:35pm
wow cool stuff, as long as it's cheaper than steel it's a step in the right direction
bloodgain
October 23, 2008 at 1:07pm
Don't worry, Redwood National Park is safe, tree-hugger. Carbon nanotubes aren't made from trees (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotube#Synthesis).
By the way, though, logging as an industry is not doing the damage the global warming alarmists and environmentalists would have you think. The current incarnation of the logging industry has actually increased the number of trees. It's the people clearcutting rainforests we need to counterbalance with new planting, and not just for the sake of trees, but for the unique rainforest ecosystem.
zodi
October 23, 2008 at 12:23pm
I don't know why they just don't use interleaved phone books like on mythbusters. 100% recyclable. After all it took two tanks to pull them apart. 8000 pounds of force.
Plus after all how many times do we really use the yellow pages.
This technology however looks very interesting for body armor and other building materials. Question I have i s how flamable is it.
c8503
October 23, 2008 at 12:05pm
I agree that armor is going to be a primary research area. PPE strength to weight ratios are in desperate need of improvement as many of the people I know working in Iraq dont wear their gear cause its straight up too heavy.
CrimsonKnight13
October 23, 2008 at 11:51am
Not exactly the best news since it means more trees being cut down... unless they vow to used only recycled paper.
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