3D-printed polymer structures that mimicked the form of theoretical tubulanes could handle the impact of a bullet better than a solid block of the same material. Rice University researchers see potential use for buildings in the future.

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Researchers at Rice University have developed a technique that makes 3D-printed common materials diamond-hard. Inspired by the theoretical form of tubulanes—a carbon nanotube structure that scientists predicted in the 1990s would have tremendous strength but have been unable to produce—the researchers scaled the structures up and found that these larger-scale imitators still maintained many of the theoretical nanotubes’ powerful properties.

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The team, headed up by Seyed Mohammad Sajadi working at the lab of Pulickel Ajayan , recently reported their results in the journal Small. Tubulanes were conceived of by chemist Ray Baughman of the University of Texas at Dallas and physicist Douglas Galvão of the State University of […]

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