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Published online 10 October 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1164
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Spongy carbon tubes take the strain
Somewhere between carbon fibres and carbon nanotubes, a new material shows its strengths.
A new form of carbon material, potentially lighter and stronger than conventional carbon fibres, has been discovered by researchers in China and the United States.
Huisheng Peng of Tongji University in Shanghai and his colleagues have found that a carbon vapour, made by heating ethylene and paraffin oil, will condense into tubes of pure carbon tens of micrometres wide and up to several centimetres long1.
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So, are these fibers strong enough for, let's see. a space elevator?
It is rather surprising structure of carbon nanomaterial. But the matter of strength is reproduceble or not, will be the most important issue as far as applications are considered.In thermal CVD the pyrolytic decomposition of hydrocarbon vapors rather proceeds in complex ways.