From: Doug Bailey (Doug.Bailey@ey.com)
Date: Thu Dec 03 1998 - 09:54:34 MST
STRETCHING NANOTUBES
Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991, physicists and
engineers have been trumpeting their potentially revolutionary uses
in high-strength materials and new microscopic devices. Researchers
hope to make these all-carbon cylindrical molecules into superstrong
fibers and microscopic wires, but because the experiments are
difficult, the mechanical properties of nanotubes are not well-
understood. In the 23 November PRL a team reports on the first full,
atom-by-atom computer simulations of the responses to mechanical
stress of a wide variety of nanotube structures. They found that at
high temperatures some nanotube structures don't break initially,
but transform gradually into longer, smaller-diameter tubes, an
unexpected behavior that may be useful for making nanotube-based
electronic devices. (See video at the Focus web site.)
(Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4656; posted 30 November 1998. Link to the
paper: http://publish.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v81/p4656/)
Doug Bailey
doug.bailey@ey.com
nanotech@cwix.com
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