A breakthrough on paper that's stronger than steel

I found this interesting, figured others would as well.


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-breakthrough-paper-stronger-steel.html


Graphene paper (GP) is a material that can be processed, reshaped and reformed from its original raw material state - graphite. Researchers at UTS have successfully milled the raw graphite by purifying and filtering it with chemicals to reshape and reform it into nano-structured configurations which are then processed into sheets as thin as paper.

These graphene nanosheet stacks consist of monolayer hexagonal carbon lattices and are placed in perfectly arranged laminar structures which give them exceptional thermal, electrical and mechanical properties.

Interesting from a technical perspective, but appears to be similar in strength to existing carbon fiber technology and presumably much more expensive. I wonder what practical advantages it might have over existing technology.

marky-d

I think there are substantial differences in carbon fiber and graphene: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/06/graphene-20100609.html Thanks, Vic.

Thanks for the link Agilitydog. Great read. It's very exciting, the upcoming technologies. In the future, real mahogany with fantastic figure you can design yourself will be printed out to the specified shapes, without cutting a single tree.

If we don't destroy ourselves.

Hi agilitydog--
No doubt there are difference between graphene and carbon fiber, but I haven't seen any specific practical benefits cited (even in the link you provide). My point was simply that it is not uncommon for 'media-friendly' news releases to tout such claims as "10 times stronger than steel!", but in reality that is only on par with materials that are already in common use.

marky-d

marky-d couldn't be more right about marketing department hype and I am not an engineer of any type. If only David Hurd would take a break from fishing!

On the other hand, the scientists responsible for graphene research from the University of Manchester did win the Nobel Prize for Physics in October.