Carbon Nanotube Muscles

Scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a new artificial muscle made of carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes can withstand extremely low and high temperatures that would cause other artificial muscle systems to freeze or decompose. This new artificial muscle can withstand temperatures from -196 degrees Celsius to 1538 degrees Celsius. The carbon nanotube muscles won't be used for prosthetics, but possibly for use in hostile environments, such as space, where the muscles can be used to move joints and arms for robots.


The muscle is composed of aerogel sheets, which means most of the volume in the sheet is air and vacuum. The sheet is composed of aligned carbon nanotubes and in terms of density, is stronger than the strongest steel plate.



Sources: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cnt-artificial-muscle