Hundreds of such nanotubes bundle to strong nanoropes. Some of the unique properties of nanotubes are their high tensile strength, which is near 100 times that of steel of the same dimension, at substantially lower weight. Their high stiffness towards bending exceeds that of known materials.
Nanotubes are also very good electrical conductors.
Still, significantly more research will be needed before bulk production can be expected. Significant progress in this direction is reported from Richard E. Smalley's research group at the Rice Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology . Likely applications of carbon nanotubes might be connected with their extremely good mechanical properties, such as strength and stiffness. New Atomic Force Microscopy probes are being used to investigate nanostructures with crevasses that are narrow on the atomic scale. Whichever will turn out to be the most significant future application of nanotubes and buckyballs, it will be the fruit of long-term financial support of fundamental research by U.S. federal funding agencies , such as the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.