The study was aiming to further investigate the tough properties of carbon nanotubes. This research, which brought together scientists from Australia, South Korea and the United States, found that if you add a "magic mix" of graphene oxide flakes to carbon nanotubes in solution-spun polymer fibres, you can create an unusually strong fibrous material. The resulting substance, according to the report, had a gravimetric toughness close to 1,000 joules per gram (J g^-1). For comparison, Kevlar's toughness on this scale is around 78 J g^-1. That's a little over 10 times tougher.

The top rating in terms of tensile strength for the fibre was about 700 megapascals ( mPa), well short of the tensile strength of Kevlar, which often rates in gigapascals. However, according to Dr Geoffrey Spinks, study co-author and Professor in the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute at UoW, this isn't as important as toughness in an application like bulletproofing.

"Strength and toughness are two different properties of materials and some applications require a high strength and others a high toughness," he told PopSci.com.au via email.

"For some applications, like bullet-proof vests, the toughness is more important than strength because the vest has to absorb all the energy of the incoming projectile without sustaining too much damage. Single flakes of graphene can also be very strong, but are not so useful for macroscopic applications."

All the really in-depth material science you can read in the report itself here, but suffice to say, this could be significant not only in the obvious field of battlefield protection, but also advanced materials construction, where lightweight yet strong materials are like gold. The fact that carbon nanotubes can also conduct electricity means these polymers could potentially be used in electrical energy storage and as actuating materials.

Professor Gordon Wallace, the Executive Research Director of UOW's Centre for Excellence for Electromaterials Science, who also a co-author on the paper, said that the research was helped along by other examples of similar work going on in Australia.

“This particular project benefitted from the supply of the graphene building blocks using a process invented here in Australia and further developed using the skills and facilities available through the Australian National Fabrication Facility- Materials node,” he said in a press release.

So, with the strength of the individual fibres tested, the next step is to see what happens when you weave the fibres into a complete fabric.

"The next step is to scale up production," says Professor Spinks. "We have already demonstrated that we can make graphene in large quantities. 

"We are just opening up new facilities here at UoW that will enable the production of large quantities of fibres and their weaving / knitting into fabrics. At that point we will be interested in developing partnerships with groups to look at ballistic testing."