NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Nanotube Activities at NASA-Johnson Space CenterNanotube activities at NASA-Johnson Space Center include production, purification, characterization as well as applications of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). A parametric study of the pulsed laser ablation process is recently completed to monitor the effect of production parameters including temperature, buffer gas, flow rate, pressure, and laser fluence. Enhancement of production is achieved by rastering the graphite target and by increasing the target surface temperature with a cw laser. In-situ diagnostics during production included time resolved passive emission and laser induced fluorescence from the plume. The improvement of the purity by a variety of steps in the purification process is monitored by characterization techniques including SEM, TEM, Raman, UV-VIS-NIR and TGA. A recently established NASA-JSC protocol for SWCNT characterization is undergoing revision with feedback from nanotube community. Efforts at JSC over the past five years in composites have centered on structural polymer/nanotube systems. Recent activities broadened this focus to multifunctional materials, supercapacitors, fuel cells, regenerable CO2 absorbers, electromagnetic shielding, radiation dosimetry and thermal management systems of interest for human space flight. Preliminary tests indicate improvement of performance in most of these applications because of the large Surface area as well as high electrical and thermal conductivity exhibited by SWCNTs. Comparison with existing technologies and possible future improvements in the SWCNT materials sill be presented.
Document ID
20060028158
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Arepalli, Sivaram
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2004
Subject Category
Physics (General)
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS9-9100
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS-19100
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available