Shou-Cang Shen has written:

'Development and application of nanofiber materials' -- subject(s): Nanofibers

'Development and application of nanofiber materials' -- subject(s): Nanofibers

Landfill methane used for hydrogen fuel

Catalyx Nanotech is the first company to use methane for nanofiber production. Through a demonstration project at a California landfill, the company was able to split methane into pure hydrogen and carbon to produce nanofibers. Carbon-based nanofibers can be applied to a number of uses: medical, energy, protection, textile; in this case, they'll be used for hydrogren fuel supply. The company says that by making hydrogen at a local landfill they will avoid a hugely expensive and energy inefficient process of fabricating and transporting the hydrogen.

(via Clean Technia)

Aircraft must be light and strong, simultaneously. Aluminum is the lightest metal on the periodic table, meaning that it has the strength and tensile properties of most metals, but is only about half as heavy as most of the other common metals, such as titanium, copper, or iron. It is therefore the optimum material to use in aircraft design. However, aluminum may be phased out as more high-tech or sophisticated materials enter the market, such as carbon nanofibers (elemental carbon is less than half as heavy as pure aluminum metal).

Todd R. Kousky has written books about climate change and its economic impacts, with a focus on climate adaptation and risk management strategies. He is known for his research and publications on climate policy and resilience finance.

When you heat glass enough to almost melt it, it becomes a gooey, gluey substance,

like very stiff slime. In that condition, it's rolled flat to make window-glass, or spun

on the end of a rod to make cups and bottles, or blown up like a balloon to make

bottles with very thin necks.

Also when glass is in that condition, if you grab a little pinch of it (with tongs!)

and slowly pull it away from the main glob, it stretches way out and becomes

very thin before it finally breaks. It can be stretched to where it almost has the

consistency of cotton candy or fine hair, and that's the material used in

fiberglass home insulation. When it's stretched not quite as thin as that, to the

thickness of a thick sewing thread or a nylon fishing line, it's quite flexible, and

in this condition, a plastic jacket is formed over it, just like a piece of wire, then

several of them are jacketed into a single cable and used for "fiberoptic" data

communication ... a pulsed bright infrared light, injected into one end with a

laser diode, travels very nicely through several miles of this glass thread to be

received at the other end of the cable.

So "fiberglass" is glass that's been melted and stretched until it's no thicker

than all those other things we've been calling "fiber" for hundreds of years.