Buckytubes spun into tough carbon mesh in France

from the can-we-make-the-space-elevator-now? dept.
Bryan Hall writes "An article in Scientific American reports that scientists have developed a new process for spinning continuous carbon fibers and then tie them into tight knots without breaking. The article elaborates: 'Scientists used single-wall carbon nanotubes, in the form of bundles of a few nanotubes, as the raw material in their novel manufacturing process….And because the tubes were all aligned in the direction of flowing solution when they again stuck together, they formed a nanotube mesh. Slowly pulling the mesh from the bath made it collapse into a high-density ribbon. Nanotechnologists have suggested a number of potential applications for such materials over the years, ranging from tethers connecting satellites to Earth to nanotube-based supercapacitors and electrochemically driven artificial muscles. Now they have a seemingly reliable, readily scalable method for producing them.'
The full article shows photos of the process." CP: Thanks also to Robert Trombatore who also submitted this story.