Image: A new film of carbon nanotubes cures composites for airplane wings and fuselages, using only 1% of the energy required by traditional, oven-based manufacturing processes. (Courtesy: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT)
Who: Metis Design Corporation , a spin-out company from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and researchers at MIT’s department of aeronautics and astronautics.
What: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) conductive microheaters that can be rolled over a surface to provide direct heating.
Where: A carbon-nanotube film that can heat and solidify the composite materials used in aircraft wings and fuselages. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.5b01544
When: The researchers are working with industrial partners to scale up the technology to manufacture composites large enough to make airplane fuselages and wings.
Further information on carbon nanotubes in Aerospace is available in the report The Global Market for Carbon Nanotubes
