Carbon Nanotube 3D Printer Filament is Here

[MzCatieB]

Original Article: http://3dprint.com/3701/3dxtech-carbon-nanotube-3d-printer-filament/

 

For those of you who are not aware, carbon nanotubes are the incredibly strong, light weight, highly conductive tubes, which are made of only carbon atoms. Basically if you were to take a sheet of graphene, roll it up, and connect the ends, you would have a carbon nanotube.

“The practical uses of carbon nanotubes and thermaplastics have largely been related to their electrical properties,” Howlett explained

 

Thoughts and opinions on this amazing technology?

[CatCloud]

"flips a table! I TAKE 100!
This is sweet, now if only i had a 3D printer that could use this.
The day we can use Titan filament instead of the powder...oh boy..

[Mainfold]

What I see this leading to, is use in the field of armor. By that I mean, ballistic helmets, plates etc, to stop bullets. Such a dense and light structure is valuable beyond imagination, if used right.

[JAKEBAB]

would this be strong enough to make a gun out of?

[ItsComrade]

would this be strong enough to make a gun out of?

 

They're carbon nanotubes. Yeah.

[JAKEBAB]

They're carbon nanotubes. Yeah.

AWESOME!!! i want one now.

[VSG]

It's impossible to transfer the great properties of individual carbon nanotubes to bulk at this stage, trust me on this. We have been working on this for over 10 years at my university.

What this is would be likely multiwalled nanotubes in the filament. Still would be good in terms of tensile strength but I can't say more without having played around with it. I will definitely be trying to get a sample of this for study.

Also, while it is conceptual to say a rolled up sheet of graphene makes a single wall carbon nanotube, that's not how they are made. In fact the reverse is actually possible - you can split open a single wall carbon nanotube to get a sheet of graphene (albeit functionalized).

Edit: I read the article fully and I am glad the guy seems to know all this.

Carbon nanotubes, by themselves are extremely strong, however as Howlett explains, “composites don’t translate into strength, as polymers won’t bond to the carbon atoms in the nanotubes.”

Since the filament has an ABS base with multi-walled carbon nanotubes mixed in, and is not just one giant CNT, the properties of strength do not transfer into the filament.

[euniqe]

would this be strong enough to make a gun out of?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotube#Strength

 

a strand of nanotubes with a diameter of <1mm can suspend 6 and a half tonnes. It is the strongest material discovered by man according to tensile strength. 

[VSG]

Read my post above, this is a CNT composite. So the actual properties of nanotubes aren't exactly being transferred over. At this stage, it is more of a proof of concept than anything else.

[jezza39]

Can't wait for the printers to come down in price

[zenix12]

Woah this is huge. time to print the cables for the space elevator!!

[VSG]

Woah this is huge. time to print the cables for the space elevator!!

 

You know the material for this has been around for half a decade now, right? Heck, I got a baseball bat made of a very similar composite in my office to show to people. This is nowhere strong enough for an F1 car, let alone a space elevator.

[fishy]

i read a while ago that they still can't make a filament long enough to be practical

when they can produce a continuous filament, then we should get excited

as of now, i don't see really big difference between carbon fiber and this

but maybe @VSG will correct me, since it looks he knows more about it than i do.

[VSG]

You are more or less spot on, other than the filament part- it is fibers that can't be made long enough continuously to retain the properties of individual nanotubes. Mechanical property wise, they are competitive compared to carbon fiber but costs are prohibitive yet.