Scientists have created a carbon nanomembrane stronger Kevlar and carbon fiber

At first glance it may seem that the photo above is a regular garbage bag. However, it is not. The photo above shows a film of carbon nanotubes, which is stronger and more flexible Kevlar carbon fiber.

Carbon nanotubes are already quite a long time attracted the attention of materials scientists. they are very strong and flexible at the microscopic level. However, in the making of these different materials, several properties of nanotubes are reduced. The reason is that in this case the tubes are arranged at random, while to reach their maximum strength necessary that they are parallel to each other. A team of researchers from the East China University of Science and Technology have found a way to produce a film in which the nanotubes are arranged exactly as it is required to create a durable material.

As the website of Chemical and Engineering News, the production method is somewhat similar to the methods that are used in the glass-blowing business. With the help of the powerful directional flow of nitrogen gas, scientists pushed a layer of carbon nanotubes along the surface of an ad hoc basis, which was located inside the furnace at a temperature of 1149 degrees Celsius. On leaving the oven the material is literally enveloped tubular foundation. After that, the scientists cooled it. The result is a two-layer film. Next, the film is rolled and flattened by the special roller system.

Perhaps the production of and does not look remarkable process, but the result is very impressive work. The tensile strength of the film obtained was 9.6 GPa. For comparison, the tensile strength Kevlar fiber is only 3.7 GPa, and the strength of the carbon dragging is about 7 GPa. In addition, the material turned out very flexible. It can be stretched by about 8 percent of the original length which is slightly larger than that of the carbon fiber, which is capable to stretch to 6 percent of the original value.

Researchers have noted that the resulting material, adding various amounts of additional layers can find its application in various fields. For example, based on it, you can create durable coatings for a variety of ships and parts of the spacecraft, as well as for the production of new types of armor for military purposes. Or very, very high-quality garbage bags.