Not exactly bullet proof but neat stuff none the less:
http://www.physorg.com/news7435.html
http://www.physorg.com/news7435.html
Bullet Proof Paper
- Thread starter Ptah
- Start date
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Sounds more like it's what gets laid over Traveller space ship hulls what with the heat dispersion properties as super radiator elements, electrical conductivity and high current capacity for the jump grid and static discharge from atmosphere, and with a little black box and programming you get the chameleon/display ability. And inherent in the structure is a minimal armor level to protect you from minor space collisions with dust and such. Hey it even has properties that lend itself to signal suppresion, so ships are harder to detect.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Ummm, how would this product shield aircraft "electromagnetic signatures" which can be picked up by radar? This starts to sound like wishful thinking. Otherwise, it sounds a lot like OED - Organic Emitting Diode (?) - basically electronic newspaper.
Nanotubes may be the next big thing, but this article makes the research sounds more like a Philosopher's Stone....
Nanotubes may be the next big thing, but this article makes the research sounds more like a Philosopher's Stone....
Well since we don't really know how the coating on stealth aircraft work, or if we do we shouldn't speculate on it, I'd give them this one.
Electronic newspaper anyone:
http://www.eink.com/
It is a very rah-rah article, from the by-line it's probably from FSUs tech transfer or PR department.
Since I'm feeling "flexible" and full of "power":
http://www.konarka.com/
to keep with the "flexible" theme of buckypaper and E Ink.
This 'buckypaper' appears to actually be large sheets of crystalline graphite. Graphite has a two dimensional crystal structure, with very weak links between the layers, but very strong links across the layers; this is why graphite flakes. It is also a strong heat conductor and moderate electric conductor along the layers, weak between layers.
Stealth coatings work by absorbing radio waves, rather than reflecting them.
Stealth coatings work by absorbing radio waves, rather than reflecting them.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Well, Ptah, "e-mag signatures" are not really picked up by radar - unless you are talking one radar picking up another radar signal (a useable detection method). Of course, if you "shield" that radar signal, it doesn't do you any good, since radar has to be transmitted to accomplish anything. If they meant "reduce its radar signature", then they should have said that - not something entirely different.
Yeah, very rah-rah. If it was in a sci-fi story, I wouldn't have any problem with it (ok, maybe the shielding bit). But, that wouldn't be reporting or scientific literature - that would be fiction. Could be really cool (and maybe beyond what we already know about nanotubes, etc.), but the article, itself, sucks.
Yeah, very rah-rah. If it was in a sci-fi story, I wouldn't have any problem with it (ok, maybe the shielding bit). But, that wouldn't be reporting or scientific literature - that would be fiction. Could be really cool (and maybe beyond what we already know about nanotubes, etc.), but the article, itself, sucks.
Looking a little more into what FSU is doing here it seems their big advancement is methods of forming these composites. In particular they say they use magnetic fields to align the nanofibers to form their composites.
I read the article again, but didn't see them claiming buckypaper as acting as a superconducter. Just a highly electrically and thermally conductive material. These are known properties of fullerene (aka C60)and carbon nanotubes. Getting these properties from an analytical scale sample into a process scale sample for materials applications is an important advance.
Anthony,
C60 and carbon nanotubes do have similar physical properties to graphite and diamond, but also many superior qualities from a materials point of view. C60 is also suspected to be a carcinogen but hey, it can't all be good. I once was up on this reasearch. If interested in some peer reviewed journal articles on the topic:
Wudl, F.; Hirsch, A.; Khemani, K. C.; Suzuki, T.; Allemand, P.-M.; Koch, A.; Eckert, H.; Srdanov, G.; Webb, H. M. "Chapter 11: Survey of Chemical Reactivity of C60, Electrophile and Dieno-polarophile Par Excellence" Fullerenes: Synthesis, Properties, and Chemistry, American Chemical Society, 1992, 161-175.
Allemand, P. M.; Khemani, K.; Koch, A.S.; Wudl, F., Holczer, K.; Donovan, S.; Grüner, G.; Thompson, J.D. "Organic Molecular Soft Ferromagnetism in a Fullerene C60" Science, 1991, 253, 301-303.
Khemani, K.; Koch, A.; Wudl, F. "Preparation of Fullerenes with a Simple Benchtop Reactor" J. Org. Chem., 1991, 56, 4543-4545.
Allemand, P. M.; Koch, A.S.; Wudl, F.; Rubin, Y.; Diederich, F.; Alvarez, M. M.; Anz, S. J.; Whetten, R. L. "Two Different Fullerenes Have The Same Cyclic Voltammetry" J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1991, 113, 1050-1051.
Berkeley's Chemistry library carries all these journals. Just noticed your location, perhaps you are even a student at Cal? Why these papers? A.S. Koch is an old buddy of mine from long ago. I was the P-chemist and he was the synthetic organic chemist. Guess who ended up getting into materials science. Darn impressive he got published in Science with a clearly non-bio topic.
Fritz88, I agree that when they say:
Rarely is it reported with the accuracy and rigor you'd see (or like to see) in a peer reviewed journal.
On a lighter note, to see, IMO, the man who was really integral in bringing C60 to light, click through to:
http://www.fac2t.eng.fsu.edu/
and scroll down. Smalley is looking pretty good, eh.
I read the article again, but didn't see them claiming buckypaper as acting as a superconducter. Just a highly electrically and thermally conductive material. These are known properties of fullerene (aka C60)and carbon nanotubes. Getting these properties from an analytical scale sample into a process scale sample for materials applications is an important advance.
Anthony,
C60 and carbon nanotubes do have similar physical properties to graphite and diamond, but also many superior qualities from a materials point of view. C60 is also suspected to be a carcinogen but hey, it can't all be good. I once was up on this reasearch. If interested in some peer reviewed journal articles on the topic:
Wudl, F.; Hirsch, A.; Khemani, K. C.; Suzuki, T.; Allemand, P.-M.; Koch, A.; Eckert, H.; Srdanov, G.; Webb, H. M. "Chapter 11: Survey of Chemical Reactivity of C60, Electrophile and Dieno-polarophile Par Excellence" Fullerenes: Synthesis, Properties, and Chemistry, American Chemical Society, 1992, 161-175.
Allemand, P. M.; Khemani, K.; Koch, A.S.; Wudl, F., Holczer, K.; Donovan, S.; Grüner, G.; Thompson, J.D. "Organic Molecular Soft Ferromagnetism in a Fullerene C60" Science, 1991, 253, 301-303.
Khemani, K.; Koch, A.; Wudl, F. "Preparation of Fullerenes with a Simple Benchtop Reactor" J. Org. Chem., 1991, 56, 4543-4545.
Allemand, P. M.; Koch, A.S.; Wudl, F.; Rubin, Y.; Diederich, F.; Alvarez, M. M.; Anz, S. J.; Whetten, R. L. "Two Different Fullerenes Have The Same Cyclic Voltammetry" J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1991, 113, 1050-1051.
Berkeley's Chemistry library carries all these journals. Just noticed your location, perhaps you are even a student at Cal? Why these papers? A.S. Koch is an old buddy of mine from long ago. I was the P-chemist and he was the synthetic organic chemist. Guess who ended up getting into materials science. Darn impressive he got published in Science with a clearly non-bio topic.
Fritz88, I agree that when they say:
they are not speaking precisely, and if taken literally talking nonsense. The writer may have misunderstood the radar signature for an electromagneitc "signature" since radar uses an electromagnetic wave. I understood that what they probably meant was radar wave absorbing, which is not unreasonable. I also tend to be pretty generous with news reports of science. Otherwise I'd go insane.
Rarely is it reported with the accuracy and rigor you'd see (or like to see) in a peer reviewed journal. On a lighter note, to see, IMO, the man who was really integral in bringing C60 to light, click through to:
http://www.fac2t.eng.fsu.edu/
and scroll down. Smalley is looking pretty good, eh.
Bucky paper may be an application of bucky balls, which if I recall right, are extremely strong long chain molecules. There is speculation that a bucky ball could be used to tether an orbiting platform to the ground and used to to guide lifts to and from earth to the orbiting station.
Of course, I'd hate to be the guy who piloted his aircraft into the monomolecular tether!
Reducing radar signature include absorbing the radiation and converting it to heat and absorbing it and re-directing the reflection away from the transmitting source
Of course, I'd hate to be the guy who piloted his aircraft into the monomolecular tether!
Reducing radar signature include absorbing the radiation and converting it to heat and absorbing it and re-directing the reflection away from the transmitting source
The Buminsterfullerine Carbon (C60 spheroid*) is the basis for the "Buckytubes" C* where *>60... and buckytubes, being molecular carbon, a pretty good conductors. It's easier to move current along a single larger molecule than an identical distance of the identical atoms arranged into multiple molecules, or so I have read.
Thus, by attaining, hopefully, molecules measured in μm, rather than nm, one reduces the jumps between molecules, and hence improves conductivity. If one can, in theory, wrap a plane in such materials, one can hopefully send the current through the outer layer, rather than through the structure, which is often the case in current aircraft. (Yes, an intentional pun.) The problem in current aircraft is that the heating by resistance to current can cause all kinds of havoc with internal systems, and even with structural integrity. Given bucky-tubes thermal transmissions, the heating cause by the current can be dissipated faster. Hence, by not letting current in, and sppreading the heat fast away from point-of-strike and path-of-current, one can reduce damage to the airframe and installed equipment base.
Thus, by attaining, hopefully, molecules measured in μm, rather than nm, one reduces the jumps between molecules, and hence improves conductivity. If one can, in theory, wrap a plane in such materials, one can hopefully send the current through the outer layer, rather than through the structure, which is often the case in current aircraft. (Yes, an intentional pun.) The problem in current aircraft is that the heating by resistance to current can cause all kinds of havoc with internal systems, and even with structural integrity. Given bucky-tubes thermal transmissions, the heating cause by the current can be dissipated faster. Hence, by not letting current in, and sppreading the heat fast away from point-of-strike and path-of-current, one can reduce damage to the airframe and installed equipment base.
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