Nanotechnology is great, and researchers are discovering new ways to use it in manufacturing. One of the leading frontiers in nanotechnology is the use of carbon nanotubes — superthin sheets of carbon rolled into a tube that demonstrate amazing physical properties.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were discovered in the early 1990s. As research unfolded on CNTs, scientists learned they are 100 times stronger than steel, but only one-sixth the weight of steel. In addition, they have many times the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity of copper.
Aerospace discovery
In April, MIT reported reported that its aerospace engineers had found a way to use a carbon nanotube to heat aircraft polymers into a solid and resilient material. This technique could change the way manufacturers make aircraft — replacing the current energy-hogging technology that heats ovens to 750 degrees F then puts the multiple-polymer layers into the ovens to melt them into one layer.
The MIT aerospace engineers created a CNT film that heats and solidifies a composite without needing these huge ovens. Using a regular electrical power source, the film is heated and wrapped around a multiple-polymer layer. The heated CNT film excites the polymer and causes it to solidify. The result was a composite just as strong as those made in conventional overs, but with only 1 percent of the energy used by the ovens.
"The new 'out-of-oven' approach may offer a more direct, energy-saving method for manufacturing virtually any industrial composite," Brian L. Wardle, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT said in an interview. "Typically, if you're going to cook a fuselage for an Airbus A350 or Boeing 787, you've got about a four-story oven that's tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure that you don't need.
"Our technique puts the heat where it is needed, in direct contact with the part being assembled. Think of it as a self-heating pizza. Instead of an oven, you just plug the pizza into the wall and it cooks itself."
The engineering team began researching aircraft applications for carbon nanotubes as a deicing application for aircraft. From there they made the leap to ask themselves, "If the CNT film could generate heat, why not use it to make the composite itself?"
After successfully making the aircraft polymer, the group looked into how hot they could get the film. They discovered it exceeded 1,000 degrees, which means almost any composite could be made using films. Presently, the MIT engineering team and leading aircraft manufacturers are working together finding ways to scale the project up to make composites large enough to manufacture airplane wings and fuselages.
Meanwhile, in Japan
Despite the long list of benefits, one negative characteristic of CNTs is their tendency to clump together. For CNTs to be useful, they have to be dispersed evenly. The problem is they are insoluble in several liquids.
Recently, two Japanese scientists from Kyushu University announced that, based on their research, there are ways to tame those insoluble CNTs. According to Research Asia News, Dr. Tsuyohiko Fujigaya and Dr. Naotoshi Nakashima created a technique called noncovalent polymer wrapping of CNT.
A wide variety of polymers can be used for this technique, and some of these polymer dispersants even add new properties to the CNTs. Some of these polymer dispersal agents are now used across many industries from energy to biomedicine.
For manufacturers from airline makers to medication manufacturers, CNT technology holds promise to cut costs, improve innovation and lower carbon footprints.
