'Pressure-welding' nanotubes creates ultrastrong material

(Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) MIPT's researchers investigated the possibility of 'gluing' parallel nanotubes to each other, creating a material so durable that it could withstand even the harsh conditions of the aerospace industry. They experimented with multiwall carbon nanotubes using an shear diamond anvil cell to apply torsion. It turned out that shear stress strain in the outer walls of the tubes causes them to connect to each other by covalent bonding, while the inner tubes'...