Resistant material made of nanotubes

2002/10/15 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Materialak
• Teknologia

However, for industrial use it is necessary to solve the problem of the difficulty of its integration in fiber materials. When nanotubes are mixed with polymers, they accumulate and the material cannot be used. If few nanotubes are added, the compound is too weak.

Now, U.S. Oklahoma has found a solution at State University. According to the work published in the journal Nature, the international team led by Nicholas Kotov has managed to create a very hard material with nanotubes. They say it's as light as carbon fiber, but six times stronger than it, and it's as tough as hard ceramic materials used in engineering.

Layers of monomolecular nanotubes with overlapping polymeric layers have been interspersed to obtain this material. For this, alternatively, they have introduced the material in a water with dispersed nanotubes and in a polymer solution, which allows the adhesion of layers of nanotubes or polymers to the surface.

To make the material even harder, chemical groups have been glued to the nanotubes, thus forming bonds when the material is heated or chemically treated. If this process is done by adding each layer, the components form a very hard three-dimensional network.

Finally, 50% of the material is nanotubes. According to studies, it is as hard as silicon carbide and tantalum carbide. Bear in mind that these materials produce the most resistant cutting tools and reaction engines, among others. The immersion method is painful but inexpensive, so it is applicable to the industry. However, carbon nanotubes remain very expensive and researchers are working to cheapen them.