US Patent 8158217 - CNT-infused fiber

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8158217.html

Thin patent from Applied Nanostructured Solutions LLC teaches a way to directly grow carbon nanotubes on different types of fiber (e.g. graphitic, metallic, ceramic, glass). Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of infusing carbon nanotubes on a parent fiber, the method comprising:

spreading said parent fiber before disposing a carbon nanotube-forming catalyst on a surface of said parent fiber, thereby forming a catalyst-laden fiber;

actively heating said catalyst-laden fiber to a nanotube-synthesis temperature;

transporting said catalyst-laden fiber through a carbon plasma at atmospheric pressure, thereby synthesizing carbon nanotubes directly on said catalyst-laden fiber while being transported; and

re-bundling the spread parent fiber after synthesizing carbon nanotubes thereon.