From an written by AZoNano:

For decades, carbon fiber has been considered as a pillar of strength in the field of materials manufacturing. Rice University scientists are now finding ways to improve these carbon fibers to enhance its properties.

The scientists discovered that the polymer chains that develop a common carbon fiber are susceptible to misalignment during the manufacturing process. This misalignment is considered as a defect that the researchers compared to a faulty zipper that leads to weakening of the product.

The Rice laboratory of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson is currently involved in analyzing these ignored defects and is also suggesting ways to overcome these defects. This study appears in the October, 2016 issue of Advanced Materials.

 

timthumb.php_
Image Credit:   Nitant Gupta and Evgeni Penev/Rice University

Recent News