Researchers at Northwestern University, United States, have created a high performance fiber, from carbon nanotubes and a polymer, which could be tougher than Kevlar. The fiber is tough, strong, and resistant to failure, and could be used in bulletproof vests, parachutes, or in composite materials for vehicles, airplanes and satellites. According to Horacio Espinosa, a professor of engineering and applied science, “[W]e want to create new-generation fibers that exhibit both superior strength and toughness. A big issue in engineering fibers is that they are either strong or ductile — we want a fiber that is both. The fibers we fabricated show very high ductility and a very high toughness. They can absorb and dissipate large amounts of energy before failure. We also observed that the strength of the material stays very, very high, which has not been shown before. These fibers can be used for a wide variety of defense and aerospace applications.” The material is tougher than Kevlar, according to tests conducted on it, meaning it has a higher ability to absorb energy without breaking, but Kevlar is still stronger – meaning it has a higher resistance to failure. The team’s findings were published in the journal ACS Nano.