Nanotech specialists eye aerospace applications
The future of composites may lie in carbon nanotubes.

The future of composites may lie in carbon nanotubes. Nano composites have already found their way into cars and sports gear, and now specialists in this technology are looking for aerospace applications.

Carbon nanotubes are cylinders of carbon atoms arranged like a roll of chicken wire with hemispheres at both ends to complete the structure. Each hemisphere looks like a football, with atoms arranged in pentagons and hexagons. “Carbon nanotubes were first described in 1991 by Sumio Iijama, a Japanese researcher who investigated arc-discharge soots using an electron microscope,” Kai Schierholz, vice president for technology and research and development at Nanoledge, a Montpellier, France-based company specializing in nano materials R&D and production.

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