| Abstract |
Carbon nanotubes grown by chemical vapour deposition or carbon arc method are fairly cheap but contain a considerable amount of defects and therefore the electrical and mechanical properties are far below their theoretical limits. In the laser ablation technique, nanotubes are produced under much better control of carrier gas flow and thermal gradients, but throughput is low and lasers are expensive. In channel spark ablation thermal gradients and gas flow are similar, but the process is much cheaper. The Arc-Jet method improves the flow conditions in the carbon arc (Kraetschmer) generator by injecting the carrier gas through a nozzle into the electric arc. The consortium will set up generators for channel spark ablation (Bologna), laser ablation (Stuttgart), and Arc-Jet production (Shanghai) and compare the products from these methods. To this end procedures for quality control and quality standardisation will be developed. These methods are based on optical and Raman spectroscopy, X- ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis, as well as on mechanical investigations and electrical and thermal transport measurements (on pressed pellets, entangled films, and composites). The Austrian company AT&S Austria Systemtechnik AG is one of the largest producers of printed circuit boards. There is a general tendency to make these boards 'smarter' and to transfer passive electronic elements (resistors and capacitors) from the chips to the boards. AT&S envisages to use the nanotubes produced in this project for electronic elements integrated into their boards. AT&S has just started a subsidiary in China so that both the Chinese daughter and the European mother are likely to benefit from this project. The present project will produce high quality nanotubes at much larger quantities than presently available and at prices which are more than two orders of magnitude lower. We expect this to lead to a considerable breakthrough in #
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