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IMAGE: Rice University researchers modeled the relationship between the length of carbon nanotubes and the friction-causing crosslinks between them in a fiber and found the ratio can be used to measure. view more
Credit: Illustration by Evgeni Penev/Rice University
HOUSTON - (Jan. 19, 2021) - Carbon nanotube fibers are not nearly as strong as the nanotubes they contain, but Rice University researchers are working to close the gap.
A computational model by materials theorist Boris Yakobson and his team at Rice s Brown School of Engineering establishes a universal scaling relationship between nanotube length and friction between them in a bundle, parameters that can be used to fine-tune fiber properties for strength.