Carbon Nanotubes in Your Future?

[Chris Ostlind]

Nanotube technology has been around for some time now in various experimental forms. The product has looked interesting ever since it was first announced, but there were hoops through which develoipers needed to jump.

Just announced, a new power boat will be built from nanotube prepreg and according to the company behind it all, this new machine will save 75% of the weight of a trad fiberglass boat and 33% less weight than a conventional carbon fiber design of the same length.

WOW!

The implications across the board for boat design are enormous.

The real story rotates around the cost effectiveness of the nanotube product itself. If it can compete, head-up, with the carbon fiber materials that have grown to be widely used already, then we might just be standing at the threshold of a whole new level of design in the boating world.

Here's the company's website: http://www.zyvexpro.com

Here's the link to the page with the info on the new boat: http://www.zyvexpro.com/news/540SE/

These same guys also produce a nanotube enhanced epoxy called, Epovex.

All the usual disclaimers about being involved with the company and/or shilling for the industry.


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[marshmat]

Interesting, indeed.

More about their technology (warning, physics/chemistry degree needed): http://www.zyvexpro.com/nano201.html

Now, there's an important point here that is not readily apparent from the press releases: Arovex prepreg is not quite what people often seem to think it is.

There seems to be a perception that the current crop of "carbon nanotube" materials seen in bikes, tennis racquets and now boats actually use nanotubes in place of the normal carbon fibre. They do not.

Arovex prepreg, like all current "nano-enhanced" carbon materials, does not contain any long fibres of nanotubes. The base cloth is conventional carbon- or, in some cases, aramid or E-glass. The nanotubes are very short- too short to see with the naked eye- and account for only a very tiny fraction of the overall laminate.

Zyvex's contribution, as far as I know, has been the development of the chemistry needed to get predictable bonding between the nanotubes and the polymer matrix. The nanotubes are actually part of the resin- they're conjugated with a (proprietary) molecule that bonds well to both the nanotube and the resin, and blended in with the liquid resin. When it sets, they help to carry stresses through the polymer matrix. This is where the gains in strength over a conventional carbon laminate come from.

It's an interesting development, to be sure. I'm curious how it will play out in economic terms, especially given the large capital investment (pressure ovens, high-temp moulds, etc.) needed to make full use of prepreg composite technology.

If we ever do figure out how to make nanotube fibre, now that will be a really huge step forward. Theoretically, pure SWNT fibre would have an ultimate tensile strength of 60 to 120 GPa- fifty to a hundred times more than high-quality steel of the same dimensions, and ten to twenty times more than current PAN or pitch-derived carbon fibre. A steel cable a metre in diameter could be replaced by something the size of your arm.

[Ad Hoc]

Marshmat

A friend of mine is also using carbon nanotubes ona project, i'm also waiting to see how it fairs up when the boat is in the water and if all the claims of the product can be realised too.

"...Theoretically, pure SWNT fibre would have an ultimate tensile strength of 60 to 120 GPa- fifty to a hundred times more than high-quality steel .."

Well, just as with carbon there is also tetra-steel...just as potentially mind boggling. There is research regarding tetra-steel for making "lifts" that replace conventional methods of getting into low earth orbit. Tetra-steel has values in the high GPa's too.

[bistros]

Originally Posted by Chris Ostlind

Nanotube technology has been around for some time now in various experimental forms. The product has looked interesting ever since it was first announced, but there were hoops through which develoipers needed to jump.
.

Chris:

A friend of mine is an industrial designer - he was telling me the other day about plastic/carbon sheet products he's seen where you can heat form the plastic sheet and then once in shape epoxy the carbon side for stiffness. He designs a lot of sports equipment and thought this may be an idea for a boat like the Cabrillo - basically using a plastic style molding process to establish shape and then achieving stiffness and longevity.

He was going to investigate further, but he felt parts rendered this was would be under glass weight and slightly above molded carbon parts.

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Bill