Buckypaper archives - Overheard in the tech blogosphere

Overheard in the tech blogosphere:

Buckypaper

Nov 6 2008   9:35PM GMT

Overheard: Your grandchild’s car might be made of buckypaper



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Nanotechnology, Technology, Buckypaper
buckypaper.jpg Buckypaper is similar in concept to papier mache - layer it up thick and it gets stronger. So strong, in fact, that aeroplanes and rockets and even common household chairs could all be made from buckypaper in some distant future world. We are therefore calling it papier mache 2.0.

Gary Cutlack, World about to get lighter and stronger thanks to “buckypaper” and the magic of nanotubing

Buckypaper forms when a suspension of carbon nanotubes is forces through a fine-mesh filter.  Like a lot of great inventions, it was found accidently; researchers were trying to find out how stars created carbon.  Scientists and engineers are trying to figure out how to produce the material in bulk. Right now it takes several hours to make a single sheet of buckypaper.

Nov 6 2008   8:45PM GMT

Video: Buckypaper



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Nanotechnology, Buckypaper

Buckypaper is made of tube-shaped carbon molecules (carbon nanotubes) that are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. The Florida Advanced Center for Composite Technologies (FAC2T) at Florida A&M University is working on developing real world applications for the material.