a) Space elevators (but the tensile strength required for that is too high and we are still not close enough), and
b) Large O'Neill cylinders, in the radius of about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles). With regards to tensile strength, these would require something with the strength of graphene.
This particular fiber seems to have 2 GPa of tensile strength, which is only good for a smallish O'Neill cylinder.
An O'Neill cylinder would consist of two counter-rotating cylinders. The cylinders would rotate in opposite directions to cancel any gyroscopic effects that would otherwise make it difficult to keep them aimed toward the Sun. Each would be 5 miles (8.0 km) in diameter and 20 miles (32 km) long, connected at each end by a rod via a bearing system. Their rotation would provide artificial gravity.
- Durable stringy clothing items
- Thinner ropes? Particularly relevant is for safety applications.
- Fiber ropes are particularly advantageous when compared to steel ropes in applications that require repeated bending.
I mean, you could in theory rappel from something like 2mm dyneema line with very comfortable safety margin on tensile strength alone, but 1. keeping a say 60m long 2mm line untangled is a serious headache, and I would not be comfortable holding my weight on the 2mm rope while letting it scratch against a rock wall .
And to be clear, I believe there are multiple applications for higher tensile strength fibers. I just can't see that many applications where thinner ropes than current technology produces would be a game changer.
* Buildings
* Bridges
* High voltage wires with very few supports
It has to do with the weight of the cables.
That article posited that spider silk was a solution, but this may be better.
In that case, a cable that visibly melts or breaks, can be better.
Elevators have all kinds of passive braking systems. They might get stuck, but they only fall in movies.