Nanotubes are stronger than steel.
Their unusual structure mimics the atomic arrangement of the buckyball, though nanotubes are strands rather than spheres. Nanotubes have some immediate applications in high-strength composite fibers and laminates, coating systems, and in adding good wear properties to thin films. This method allows realistic simulation of the behavior of carbon nanotubes, tiny cylinders only a few billionth of a meter in diameter. In recent journal articles and conference papers based on these simulations, Menon has reported findings about the geometry and behavior of nanotubes that confirm their potential as semiconductor devices. He has shown, for example, that the laws of molecular dynamics allow the construction of nanotube T-junctions, key components in envisioned molecular scale transistors.