A new type of carbon fiber containing large flakes of graphene oxide has been created at Rice University.<\/p>\n
The fiber is unique owing to the strength of its knots. Fibers are typically most likely to snap under tension at the location of the knot, but this new fiber has what the researchers call \u201c100 percent knot efficiency,\u201d meaning the fiber is as likely to fail anywhere along its length as at the knot.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see this is very strange,\u201d Rice chemist James Tour said. \u201cThe knot is as strong as any other part of the fiber. That never happens in a carbon fiber or polymer fibers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The material could be used for raising the strength of products made of carbon fiber, like composites for robust yet light aircraft parts or fabric for bulletproof vests.<\/p>\n
Ten Thousand Times Larger<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s all due to the distinctive properties of graphene oxide flakes. Created in a process patented by Rice a few years ago, the flakes are chemically extracted from graphite. They have an average diameter of 22 microns, a quarter the width of an average human hair. Yet they\u2019re huge compared to the petroleum-based pitch used in current carbon fiber.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pitch particles are two nanometers in size, which makes our flakes about ten thousand times larger,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
said lead author and Rice graduate student Changsheng Xiang.<\/p>\n