"Nano" is the flavour of the decade, so the magic of nano is pushed, both in the media (good and bad, e.g., "grey goo") and research papers.
Without doubt, that there are carbon nanotubes in the steel matters - if the excess carbon isn't in nanotubes, it will end up in graphite sheets which will seriously weaken the steel ("why is cast iron so brittle?"). So, they explain the relative lack of bad effects of such a high carbon content. Whether they explain the good properties is another story.
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