Yarn Spun from Nanotubes 152
jabberjaw writes "Nature is reporting that Professor Alan H Windle has spun nanotube yarn by twisting nanotubes onto spinning rods as they come out of the furnace from which they are made. Professor Windle's team used ethanol (carbon source) with ferrocene (catalyst) and thiopene (for thread assembly) to create the structure. To create the tubes a mix of the above chemicals is inserted into a furnace in a jet of hydrogen gas. However, do not get your hopes up yet, the press release also indicates that the yarn has a strength comparable to that of most modern textiles but the groups does state that there is room for improvement. Yes, for those of you wondering, there is mention of a space elevator."
Thiopene? (Score:5, Informative)
thiophene
IAAC - I am a chemist
Good nanotube resource site (Score:5, Informative)
Not so fast spanky (Score:2, Informative)
Nanotube is just another buzzword. Nothing special has been invented yet. The article says these are no stronger than regular textile fibers (like nylon, I assume).
Re:Good nanotube resource site (Score:2, Informative)
Related site: Nanotube based QIP (Score:2, Informative)
Don't Wear Nanoyarn Clothes To Picture Day! (Score:3, Informative)
Making clothes out of this 'yarn' may not be such a good idea... wear it out to picture day and you may be going home burned and naked! [rpi.edu]
Blockwars [blockwars.com]: free, multiplayer, head-to-head Tetris like game
Re:nanotube "dust" hazards? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:next generation (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Expensive sweater (Score:5, Informative)
As for flammability, what you need to watch out for is the fact that they're optically unstable. Someone found out that if you try and takea flash picture of them, they spontaneously combust in a rather explosive manner.
I can see a nanotube sweater at a family get together right now:
"OK, everybody, say cheese!"
"NO WAIT, NOOOOO!"
FOOM!
Re:next generation (Score:5, Informative)
Vests need to distribute the energy across the vest and elasticaity doesn't help there.
Re:nanotube "dust" hazards? (Score:4, Informative)
Unfortunately nanotubes appear to be much more toxic than graphite (at least particular kinds of nanotubes, and for inhalation), leading to lung damage of types unexpected by the scientists doing the research.
I recently read a popular summary somewhere but of course don't remember exactly where. There's a fairly technical (but not unreadable) summary at from Toxicological Sciences [oupjournals.org] available online. (I think that's a freely available article.)
Re:Space elevators (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How to cut a rope so strong?? (Score:3, Informative)
it is a really strong fibre that can stop bullets when you make a vest out of it, but a knife will slide right through it and kill the wearer.
just because an item has a strong tensile strength doesn't mean it can't be cut.
Obligatory semantic comment (Score:3, Informative)
Asbestos is not toxic either. Toxins work by chemical poisoning. Asbestos works its harm via mechanical damage on a microscopic scale.
Re:Strength isn't the only issue (Score:2, Informative)
cross sectional area. To say that the new yarn has
the same as the one implies "for the same thickness".
Re:How to cut a rope so strong?? (Score:3, Informative)
Remember, they have high tensile strength, not a high shear strength. We cut nanotubes all the time in our lab, using a silicon atomic force microscope tip (think tiny, tiny silicon record player).
On the other hand, it would be a pain to be tied up in nanotubes. They might stretch a little, but good luck breaking it.
Re:Space Elevator and Nature (Score:3, Informative)