Comments for DELTAX http://www.teamdeltax.com MIT-NANOCOMP STRONG TETHER TEAM FOR THE NASA CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:12:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Making Progress and Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Deflores! by ssteiner http://www.teamdeltax.com/?p=21&cpage=1#comment-492 ssteiner Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:12:48 +0000 http://www.teamdeltax.com/?p=21#comment-492 Hey Zippy- I think we will surpass the 10 GPa/SG (that is, GPa divided by density) threshold within the decade for sure and 20 GPa/SG is not impossible. Significant advances in optimizing the production of the yarns would need to be made. Prof. Alan Windle has calculated that the ultimate theoretical strength for a nanotube should be about 52 GPa/SG. Considering that practical fibers will be comprised of nanotubes held/tangled together, and also that Stone-Wales (5-7 shift) transformations can occur (that is, the hexagons reconfigure into pentagon-heptagon pairs in tension and the tube splits open), I think a fiber between 20-30 GPa/SG might be the upper limit of what is technologically practical. Ben Shelef has calculated a criterion that states the requirements for a space elevator based on fiber strength, and a fiber with strengths of 20-30 GPa/SG would still permit a space elevator to be built from Earth, it would just be very large and very expensive. Hey Zippy-

I think we will surpass the 10 GPa/SG (that is, GPa divided by density) threshold within the decade for sure and 20 GPa/SG is not impossible. Significant advances in optimizing the production of the yarns would need to be made. Prof. Alan Windle has calculated that the ultimate theoretical strength for a nanotube should be about 52 GPa/SG. Considering that practical fibers will be comprised of nanotubes held/tangled together, and also that Stone-Wales (5-7 shift) transformations can occur (that is, the hexagons reconfigure into pentagon-heptagon pairs in tension and the tube splits open), I think a fiber between 20-30 GPa/SG might be the upper limit of what is technologically practical.

Ben Shelef has calculated a criterion that states the requirements for a space elevator based on fiber strength, and a fiber with strengths of 20-30 GPa/SG would still permit a space elevator to be built from Earth, it would just be very large and very expensive.

]]> Comment on Making Progress and Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Deflores! by Zippy http://www.teamdeltax.com/?p=21&cpage=1#comment-184 Zippy Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:32:18 +0000 http://www.teamdeltax.com/?p=21#comment-184 To ask the question I really want to ask: Do you think we (anyone) will surpass the 40/50/60/100 gpa thresholds in the next 10 - 20 years? Is it possible, just difficult? Or just not physically possible. To ask the question I really want to ask: Do you think we (anyone) will surpass the 40/50/60/100 gpa thresholds in the next 10 – 20 years? Is it possible, just difficult? Or just not physically possible.

]]> Comment on TeamDeltaX.com Launched by Daniel Pressl http://www.teamdeltax.com/?p=3&cpage=1#comment-3 Daniel Pressl Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:04:26 +0000 http://www.teamdeltax.com/wordpress/?p=3#comment-3 Yes, greetings to everyone, at the moment from Austria. I posted some pics of the team at the competition on my website: http://ipressl.com/NASA_Tether_Challenge.html -Daniel (DeltaX) Yes, greetings to everyone, at the moment from Austria. I posted some pics of the team at the competition on my website:

http://ipressl.com/NASA_Tether_Challenge.html

-Daniel (DeltaX)

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