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Graphene Paper 10x Stronger Than Steel
This thin strip of graphene nano paper is ten times stronger than steel. The University of Technology in Sydney announced the creation of the super-strong material, which is composed of processed and pressed graphite.
(Paper-thin graphene stronger than steel)
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.SF fans may be thinking of the material used in Jules Verne's 1866 classic Robur the Conqueror.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.
Using a synthesised method and heat treatment, the UTS research team has produced material with extraordinary bending, rigidity and hardness mechanical properties. Compared to steel, the prepared GP is six times lighter, five to six times lower density, two times harder with 10 times higher tensile strength and 13 times higher bending rigidity.
...Unsized paper, with the sheets impregnated with dextrin and starch and squeezed in hydraulic presses, will form a material as hard as steel. There are made of it pulleys, rails, and wagon-wheels, much more solid than metal wheels, and far lighter. And it was this lightness and solidity which Robur availed himself of in building his aerial locomotive...
(Read more about Verne's paper steel)
Speaking of super-strong materials, see also this attempt to combine two plastics to create 'metal', as well as attempts to spin webs strong as steel.
From University of Sidney via Inhabitat.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/17/2011)
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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