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from the progressing-towards-a-space-elevator dept.
New Hampshire-based Nanocomp Technologies Inc. claims that its new manufacturing process produces carbon nanotubes that are hundreds of times longer than what is typically available:
A new commercial manufacturing process for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) produces tubes in the range of 1–10 mm in length (5–12-nm dia.), two orders of magnitude longer than currently available CNTs, which typically have lengths from 5–20µm. "Despite attractive mechanical and electrical properties, CNTs have largely been a disappointment for 'real-world' applications, because it has not been possible to make them in formats that are useful for engineers," explains Peter Antoinette, co-founder and president of Nanocomp Technologies Inc. (Merrimack, N.H.; www.nanocomptech.com), the developer of the process. Short CNTs do not readily form networks within other materials, unless used at very high concentrations.
The Nanocomp process revolves around a proprietary 1-m long heated reactor that contains a widely available iron catalyst and allows control of 23 separate process variables. Organic alcohols serve as the carbon source for CNTs. "By exerting tight control over the process conditions, we can manipulate the length and dimensions of the CNTs," Antoinette says. The longer, polymer-like CNTs resulting from the process are commercially available as Miralon products, and they can be spun into "yarn" using equipment for textile fiber processing. Because of their length, the Nanocomp CNTs form bundles and networks that allow them to be more useful in macroscale materials, such as for lightweight structural materials.
Found at NextBigFuture, which has some older information about the company.
The carbon nanotube market is projected to grow by between 16.8% to 22.1% per year in the near future.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday January 20 2017, @09:37AM
Interesting you would say that. A lot of people would think the opposite on this very day.
https://www.infowarsstore.com/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=body+armor [infowarsstore.com]
Maybe you should be picking up your own body armor right now. Call right now.
More to the point:
So for all the excitement about CPUs with carbon nanotubes and CNT alloys for aeroplanes, it looks like the #1 application is going to be adding it into plastic to make it stronger, bendier, more resistant to heat, and other interesting properties. I would imagine that CNT-reinforced polypropylene [wikipedia.org] or high density polyethylene [wikipedia.org] would have a lot of interesting properties that a home user could enjoy. Maybe it could be added to biodegradable products instead without making it a billion-year hazard. Or not?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187770581500332X [sciencedirect.com]
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969713008036 [sciencedirect.com]
http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/newsid=31630.php [nanowerk.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday January 20 2017, @10:37AM
The world according to Alex Jones ... If I was a devotee I recon I would buy body armor and restocking my bunker right about now.
Anyway back to the CNT. So better and smaller components I guess is something that the common man could use and enjoy in all our appliances. That said is that something that the developers actually want - products that last forever or a really long time. That doesn't sound like something they would like, except for a small market segment of quality products.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday January 20 2017, @05:07PM
The world according to Alex Jones ... If I was a devotee I recon I would buy body armor and restocking my bunker right about now.
Maybe you should.
It's weird; it's Alex Jones's camp that just won the elections and is now in control of the US government. So they should be happy now, not worried about body armor and bunkers.
The rest of us, however, really should be. We'll be really lucky if society doesn't look like Mad Max before Trump's first term is over.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:30PM
"We'll be really lucky if society doesn't look like Mad Max before Trump's first term is over."
at least there would be justice.