US 11,875,921 B2
Lightweight carbon nanotube cable comprising a pair of plated twisted wires
Bradley J. Lyon, Hoffman Estates, IL (US); Nana Kim, Redondo Beach, CA (US); Hsiao-Hu Peng, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (US); John A. Starkovich, Redondo Beach, CA (US); and Edward M. Silverman, Encino, CA (US)
Assigned to NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION, Falls Church, VA (US)
Filed by Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Falls Church, VA (US)
Filed on Sep. 25, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/140,811.
Application 16/140,811 is a division of application No. 15/791,730, filed on Oct. 24, 2017, granted, now 10,128,022.
Prior Publication US 2019/0122788 A1, Apr. 25, 2019
Int. Cl. H01B 13/016 (2006.01); H01B 13/06 (2006.01); C23C 28/00 (2006.01); C25D 5/54 (2006.01); H01B 7/18 (2006.01); C25D 3/38 (2006.01); C25D 7/06 (2006.01); C01B 32/168 (2017.01); H01B 7/02 (2006.01); H01B 13/22 (2006.01); H01B 13/02 (2006.01); H01B 1/04 (2006.01); H01B 11/20 (2006.01); H01B 11/00 (2006.01)
CPC H01B 7/18 (2013.01) [C01B 32/168 (2017.08); C25D 3/38 (2013.01); C25D 5/54 (2013.01); C25D 7/0607 (2013.01); H01B 1/04 (2013.01); H01B 7/0216 (2013.01); H01B 11/20 (2013.01); H01B 13/0207 (2013.01); H01B 13/06 (2013.01); H01B 13/222 (2013.01); H01B 11/002 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for making a carbon nanotube (CNT) cable, comprising:
chemically pretreating CNT yarn using chlorosulfonic acid;
lowering a copper deposition rate so as to be less than or equal to 12 microns per minute, electroplating so as to surround each of a pair of 24 American Wire Gauge (24AWG) wires with plating, each wire comprising two or more sub-cores, at least one sub-core comprising the CNT yarn, wherein the CNT yarn comprises chemically stretched CNT yarn, wherein the CNT yarn comprises one or more of a quad-axial yarn and a triax yarn, thereby creating plated wires, wherein the plating comprises copper, wherein the plating has a thickness less than or equal to 15 microns;
twisting the copper-plated wires together, wherein the twisting step comprises twisting together the two or more sub-cores, thereby creating a pair of-twisted wires, each comprising the two or more sub-cores, wherein the twisting step further comprises controlling a number of sub-cores; and
surrounding the plated twisted wires with an electrical layer configured to shield the plated twisted wires, thereby creating the CNT cable, the CNT cable having a radio frequency (RF) insertion loss less than or equal to 4.0 decibels per foot at a frequency of 4 Gigahertz, the CNT cable having a grain size less than 10 microns, the CNT cable having a data transfer rate of at least 1.25 Gigabits per second (Gbit/s), the CNT cable having a data transfer rate more than 40 times a maximum data rate of prior art cables lacking electroplated copper, the CNT cable having a data transfer rate more than three times a data transfer speed of Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, the CNT cable having a weight of approximately 0.12 grams per foot, and the CNT cable having conductivity between 10 megasiemens per meter to 58.5 megasiemens per meter.