While passengers endure 19 hour non-stop flights from London to Sydney, aerospace researchers are working on ways to speed up flight. Materials scientists from Florida State University (FSU) reports in the journal Carbon that they have developed a thin, lightweight material that they believe could help shield aircraft from the intense heat that they would experience flying at around five times the speed of sound.
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_____________________________________________________________________ The material described in the
Carbonpaper is formed from sheets of carbon nanotubes – which the team refers to as “buckypaper “ – soaked in a phenol-based resin. This yields a lightweight, flexible material that can form a heatproof skin that protects the aircraft structure while also providing mechanical reinforcement. Testing the material with a blowtorch showed that the material retains much of its strength and flexibility after heating, in contrast to ceramic-based heat shield materials which are prone to cracking after heating. The buckypaper material retained 39 per cent of its flexural strength and 70 per cent of its modulus of elasticity after heating, in comparison to 11 per cent and 21 per cent for a standard carbon fibre reinforced plastic control material.
Comment: How to avoid the pitfalls of MedTech
Excellent run through of the travails of innovation in medtech. Talk to people on that path in the UK and they will recount the hassle that goes with...