According to this report from Wired News and the AP there have been some recent advances in the application of carbon nanotube technology that promise to aid commercial and industrial manufacturing (Wired News - Future planes, cars may be made of `buckypaper'):
Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.[...] So far, buckypaper can be made at only a fraction of its potential strength, in small quantities and at a high price. The Florida State researchers are developing manufacturing techniques that soon may make it competitive with the best composite materials now available. [...] The long-range goal is to build planes, automobiles and other things with buckypaper composites. The military also is looking at it for use in armor plating and stealth technology.
This is a great report for those unfamiliar with buckyballs, it offers some background on their discovery, current applications, and moves on to promise us a future of light weight and stronger-than-steel materials that will revolutionize everything. Ok, maybe not everything, but lots of things, and soon, and for the rest of our lives. Stepping back from the hype, calming down, and thinking maybe this is really about a decade out for anything consumers may actually notice in their daily lives. Still, it's an amazing technology, worth keeping tabs on.
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