This thesis describes the synthesis, characterisation and macroscopic manipulation of carbon nanotubes. Two interconnected aspects were investigated: (i) growth of carbon nanotubes by catalytic chemical vapour deposition of acetylene and (ii) assembly and reinforcement of macroscopic carbon nanotube fibres. The first part describes a systematic study of the growth of carbon nanotubes by chemica...

High aspect ratio carbon nanotubes are ideal candidates to improve the resolution and lifetime of atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes. Here, we present simple methods for the preparation of carbon nanotube modified AFM probes utilising solvent evaporation or dielectrophoresis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the modified probes shows that the carbon nanotubes attach to the probe apex as ...

Retractable targets of carbon fibres with nominal diameters of 30, 7 and 4.5 Wm have been in use at the collision point of the SLC (the SLAC Linear Collider) . The target mechanism is compatible with the Mark II detector now in place at the collision point. Beam profiles are measured in horizontal and vertical axes by using magnetic dipoles to scan the beams across the fibres . Two signal detec...

The relationship between heat release rate and other fire reaction properties of fibre reinforced polymer composite materials is investigated. The heat release rate and fire reaction properties of thermoset matrix composites reinforced with combustible fibres (aramid, extended-chain polyethylene) or non-combustible fibres (glass, carbon) were determined over a range of heat flux levels using th...

This paper proposes a special eddy current transducer, send receive type and a holographic method for signal processing, able to emphasize the delaminations and massive breaking zones in carbon fibres. To evaluate individual fibres breaking, a eddy current microscopy method is proposed.

Replacement of noble metals in catalysts for cathodic oxygen reduction reaction with transition metals mostly create active sites based on a composite of nitrogen-coordinated transition metal in close concert with non-nitrogen-coordinated carbon-embedded metal atom clusters. Here we report a non-platinum group metal electrocatalyst with an active site devoid of any direct nitrogen coordination ...

Carbon fibres have attracted interest from both the scientific and engineering communities due to their outstanding physical properties. Here we report that recently synthesized ultrathin diamond nanothread not only possesses excellent torsional deformation capability, but also excellent interfacial load-transfer efficiency. Compared with (10,10) carbon nanotube bundles, the flattening of nanot...

Advances in nanotechnology have provided acoustic researchers with a number of new materials with nano-fibres and nano-pores that can potentially be implemented as an acoustic porous absorber. This paper investigates the acoustic absorption behaviour of carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays, in order to quantify the acoustic characteristics and absorption performance of nanoscopic fibres in comparison w...

Carbon-fibre and polyester-fibre implants of comparable dimensions were used to replace the calcaneal tendon in 30 sheep. The neotendon produced in proximity to the polyester fibres was denser, more collagenous and more closely adherent than that in the carbon-based neotendon. Fragmentation of the carbon caused continuing cellular reaction which was associated with a poor collagen response.