Now that everyone knows the hazards of carbon fibre seatposts, Easton says it will start using carbon nanotubes. Will they ever learn?

Article on News.com (http://news.com.com/Nanotubes+race+toward+bike+parts/2100-7337_3-5341144.html?tag=cd.top):
Sports equipment maker Easton Sports plans to start producing bicycle components constructed out of carbon nanotubes in 2005, another step forward for the budding nanotechnology industry.

<!-- Search Engine Component -->Easton (http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastonsports.com&siteId=3&oId=2100-7337-5341144&ontId=1001&lop=nl_ex) said Wednesday that it will use nanotubes from Zyvex in its components. Earlier this year, Richardson, Texas-based Zyvex linked up with Intel (http://news.com.com/Can+nanotubes+keep+PCs+cool%3F/2100-7337_3-5166111.html?tag=nl) to see if its nanotubes could help dissipate heat inside PCs.

Carbon nanotubes are coils of pure carbon that exhibit a number of unusual properties. They can conduct electricity better than many metals, are light and stronger.

While chipmakers are looking at ways to integrate the tubes into circuits, airplane designers and others are trying to take advantage of the mechanical properties by inserting strands of the tubes into structures, such as airplane wings, to reduce mass and improve energy consumption.

Some car manufacturers already incorporate nanotubes and other designer molecules into their products to reduce the weight of floorboards and panels.

Easton said nanotube-enhanced components will, ideally, be stronger and lighter than today's parts. Bike manufacturers produce several parts out of carbon now, but use graphite, a more dense form of carbon (http://news.com.com/The+stuff+of+dreams/2009-7337_3-5091267.html?tag=nl).

Zyvex said that it has come up with a way to fold the tubes into composite materials without clumping. The company also produces tools for testing and producing nanotubes, which many experts believe could be the first large-scale market in the nanotech business.

Interesting....In the early 90s I was watching Rick Smalley's work with Bucky Balls at Rice Univ. and saw his funding explode in this area. He got the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1996 for this work. Amazing how far it's come.

That's the stuff scientists are claiming can be used to build an "elevator" from earth to the edge of our atmosphere for more efficient space travel. They know its strong enough (one hair-thick strand will support an automobile) but the problem is that now there's so much space junk and satellites that they are afraid of collisions between the junk and the elevator ribbon or the people travelling it. There was just an article in Discover magazine about it a few months ago.

one hair-thick strand will support an automobile
I'm not concerned about the maximum strength. What matters is how it handles real-world forces plus wear & tear.

Oh, and I forgot the punchline,

"When your nanotube seatpost snaps, pray to god that it doesn't poke your buckyballs."

Da dum!!!!

There are still some environmental cautions involving the use of buckyballs.

************************************************** ********

To date, very little research has been conducted to examine the impact of nanomaterials on the environment and health. In the United States, research has focused especially on the mobility of these nanomaterials in the environment.

ccording to Mark Wiesner, “the question is: might the people who manufacture these carbon nanotubes breathe them in? At Rice University, research has shown that the mobility of these materials is quite limited because they have a certain tendency to exist like the little bodies of dust you find under the couch”.

But once they have been inhaled by living organisms, do they prove harmful? Researchers from NASA and the University of Texas Medical School in partnership with Rice University are currently studying the toxicity of these carbon nanotubes introduced directly into the lungs of mice.

In January 2004, two studies carried out by Chiu-Wing Lam’s team at NASA and published in the journal Toxicological Sciences demonstrated the toxicity of carbon nanotube fibres in the lungs of rats. The researchers injected three types of nanotube into the bronchial tubes of rats. Three months later, the animals were suffering from granulomas, inflammatory reactions liable to degenerate.

In addition, Eva Oberdorster from the Methodist University of Dallas has demonstrated the worrying effect of fullerenes (nanomaterials that could be used as targeted drug vectors) on small crustaceans, daphnia. Half the daphnia died after three weeks of exposure to concentrations of 800 parts per billion.

http://www.cite-sciences.fr/francais/ala_cite/science_actualites/sitesactu/question_actu.php?langue=an&id_article=463

There are still some environmental cautions involving the use of buckyballs.

************************************************** ********

To date, very little research has been conducted to examine the impact of nanomaterials on the environment and health. In the United States, research has focused especially on the mobility of these nanomaterials in the environment.

ccording to Mark Wiesner, �the question is: might the people who manufacture these carbon nanotubes breathe them in? At Rice University, research has shown that the mobility of these materials is quite limited because they have a certain tendency to exist like the little bodies of dust you find under the couch�.

But once they have been inhaled by living organisms, do they prove harmful? Researchers from NASA and the University of Texas Medical School in partnership with Rice University are currently studying the toxicity of these carbon nanotubes introduced directly into the lungs of mice.

In January 2004, two studies carried out by Chiu-Wing Lam�s team at NASA and published in the journal Toxicological Sciences demonstrated the toxicity of carbon nanotube fibres in the lungs of rats. The researchers injected three types of nanotube into the bronchial tubes of rats. Three months later, the animals were suffering from granulomas, inflammatory reactions liable to degenerate.

In addition, Eva Oberdorster from the Methodist University of Dallas has demonstrated the worrying effect of fullerenes (nanomaterials that could be used as targeted drug vectors) on small crustaceans, daphnia. Half the daphnia died after three weeks of exposure to concentrations of 800 parts per billion.

http://www.cite-sciences.fr/francais/ala_cite/science_actualites/sitesactu/question_actu.php?langue=an&id_article=463 As long as they fall in the PM2.5 standard :P

I like how rice is also studying the health effects.....Invent it...and now get funding for finding flaws in it. I gotta note that concept.

It's like anything though, fibreglass, carbon fibre, MDF, it's all dangerous to your health if you breathe in the dust.

Carbon Nanotubes exhibit some crazy characteristics. Stronger, lighter, but not cheaper thats for sure. I think there was a post about nanotubes in the "New Products and Innovations" forum a while back. A simple search in google will bring up hundreds of pages for those that are interested. As well as their electrical properties, they are actually being tested for use as CPU coolers. By making an electrical charge between thousands of strands, it is possible to create a gust of wind of up to 40 kilometers per hour in a very small space.

Interesting stuff.

Cheers, Dave.