Will Cool Cars of the Future be Made of Buckypaper? It’s Five Hundred Times Stronger than Steel (and Ten Times Lighter)

Please ban all heavy vehicles before these lightweight vehicles are introduce, so we don’t get crushed like empty toilet paper rolls.

Hahaha..LOL! Remember while it is thinner, it is OVER 500 X stronger than steel. Inhabitat points out that scientists at Florida State University have been researching ways to increase the strength of buckypaper as well as the efficiency of its manufacture.. “These techniques include the use of magnets to strengthen the alignment of the carbon nanotubes, and texturizing the surface of the nanotubes that improve their bonding strength” So with a little more R&D, it is certain they won’t be crushed

So wait, will adding magnets to your car actually help now?

Seriously though, this is cool, but I worry about this stuff getting into the environment. Some of the things that I’ve read make it sound like the next asbestos – great properties, terrible side-effects. It looks like this configuration is less likely to break into SWNTs (which are small enough to go through your nuclear membrane and mess with your DNA), which is encouraging.

I hope the manufacturing process makes them as pure as that picture would suggest.

Nate~

That is an excellent point and one I’ve mulled over as well. How is this designed for end of life? Is it still early enough in the R&D to include a C2C approach? While Florida State U states:

“buckypaper lends itself… to even greater advances in electronic miniaturization.” ~ http://www.fsu.edu/news/2007/08/27/buckypaper.award/

and

“these materials are macroscopic or continuous thin films or membranes comprised of randomly oriented and magnetically aligned CNTs (carbon nanotubes) and nanofibers. These buckypapers combine the advantages of large dimensions, superior electronic conductivity, nanotube alignment, and continuous production.”

So the question is, will they help minimize the massive amount of electronic and industrial waste out there, by providing the industries with a new material that does more with less? & is it possible to design it with a Cradle to Cradle philosophy??: http://www.greendesignwiki.com/index.php?title=The_Cradle_to_Cradle_Philosophy

Thanks again for mentioning this, I was hoping someone would. These are important questions for the fast emerging Nanotech field.

You could make houses that last forever!

Heheh! Yes~ Geodesic Dome “buckypaper” houses..

There is a contest over at the Bucky Institute: http://www.bfi.org/

Maybe that or a version of it with C2C included, will win the prize?!

So if you have 100 lbs. of steel, the Buckypaper would be only 10 lbs., is that including the volume and mass for weight differential or just a generic way of saying it’s lighter. Also because it is 500X stronger, is this due to density (which would add into the mass/weight) or rigidity/flexibility/elasticity of the substance?

super light body armor.

Z-K ~ The actual strength of the material depends on the way it incorporates into a structure or object. For example, some materials have tensile strength and others have compressional strength, and others have both. In this case, I would generally say that “Buckypaper” is lighter.

It depends on the application, here is a bit more about the research areas at FSU: http://www.eng.fsu.edu/departments/industrial/hpmi/projects.htm see #’s 3, 4 & 5 as well.

This is fabulous! Just love such innovation-so exciting. My team has two patents for hydrogen production in situ and a major algae-biodiesel process. Imagine a buckypaper auto and aircraft powered by hydrogen and/or biodiesel not to mention two and three wheelers. possibilities ad infinitum. Thurs. a.m. 30 oct 08

Just imagine, A Toyota Prius with plug in capability and ultra-light weight panels, hood, doors, fenders trunk lid and roof! Now we have a lighter electric car with higher electric distances, and cheaper to run when on gas! Sooner or later the distance one of these things can go on electric will exceed your commute and you will be all home-grown electric instead of imported oil for your commute! Now, switch the gasoline engine for a Compressed Natural Gas one and you are home-free! The next great step Toyota must take is the implementation of carbon fiber and advanced polymer composite materials to lower body weights. Toyota Your #1 in my books!

Just because it’s “500 times stronger” than steel, it won’t have the same mass or intertia a “normal” car would have. In a collision between the two, a “normal” car would still win out due to the greater mass and inertia.

An Ultra low energy input, Ultra low upkeep home made of this material, insulated with the latest silicon based insulations, Pre-fab style shipped to small green off-grid communities for light bodied intelligentsia, mostly vegan, to survive, as the Great Hulking American Neanderthal, spawn of past 200 years of force-feeding for exploitation of North America’s easy resources, dies off, leaving a polluted albeit, recoverable America from which, like a Phoenix of old a new American breed can evolve, Gaunt self-sufficient scientists, composting, humanuring, and circumspect with regard to the environment, ever seeking fresh water, fertile soil, a new beast in mankind’s book, capable of world destruction by education, but wiser heart and soul, dedicated to survivability, harmony with other life-forms, even the rabid Oriental, who must yet pupate and transform before reaching this stage, The future – now, our’s to behold!