nanocomp technologies, new hampshire - usa, announced it has successfully produced
90 cm by
180 cm sheets of carbon nanotube material and expects to deliver
9 square meter sheets as soon as this summer.
the sheets, which the company can produce on its single machine at a rate of one per day, are composed of a series of carbon nanotubes each about a millimeter long, overlapping each other randomly to form a thin mat. the tensile strength of the mat ranges from 200 to 500 megapascals [a measure of how tough it is to break]. a sheet of aluminum of equivalent thickness, for comparison, has a strength of 500 megapascals. if nanocomp takes further steps to align the nanotubes, the strength jumps to 1200 megapascals.
read more. one step closer to a cable for the space elevator.