We’ll do Rice Science Friday on a Wednesday this week, just for fun.
The latest news was actually released by the University of Pennsylvania, from which Rice got football coach Jerry Berndt back in the day. (Rice football turns out great insurance salesmen.)
Anyway, a Penn-Rice team has combined a Penn technique for distributing Buckytubes (carbon nanotubes) in nylon, which they call interfacial polymerization, with "carbon spacers" which chemically bond the nylon and nanotubes together.
The result is a material that is supple but much, much (much) stronger
than Kevlar, which is the current material of choice for things like
bulletproof vests.
Sen. John McCain models one here in Baghdad. Notice that it is a bit bulky, a bit obvious, and would be unlikely to resist a hard, direct shot, which may be why he was accompanied by over 100 soldiers on a recent walkabout. After all, it was as safe there as an Indiana county fair!
The point is we can do better, thanks to Rice chemistry.
Oh, the credits. Materials science professor Karen I. Winey headed the Penn side of the team, along with Mohammad Moniruzzaman of the materials science department. The Rice side was officially headed by Prof. Edward Billups, who is approaching emeritus status, but credit also to graduate student Jayanta Chattopadhyay.
Rice Science Wednesday: Better Kevlar Through Nanotubes