- 09 June 2008 -
Unidym and Battelle form nanotubes alliance

CARBON NANOTUBE manufacturer Unidym Inc and Battelle, an independent US research and development organisation, have formed an alliance focusing on the use of carbon nanotubes in composites for aerospace and transportation applications.

The alliance will collaborate with aerospace and automotive companies and their composite materials suppliers, which require carbon nanotube formulated coatings, sealants, adhesives and load-bearing composites. Carbon nanotubes are said to enhance these materials through higher strength-to-weight ratios, corrosion resistance, toughness, dampening and/or multi-functional electrical properties such as electrostatic dissipation, electromagnetic interference/radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI) shielding and electrical conductivity.

The companies say they have both seen significant industrial interest in applications such as high performance carbon nanotube enhanced carbon fibre composites, carbon nanotube based thermoplastic nanocomposites than can be injection moulded, and thermoset nanocomposites that can be fabricated with various resin transfer moulding (RTM) processes, and through the compression moulding of nanostructured sheet moulding compound (SMC) formulations.
 
“Unidym and Battelle have both been approached by customers with strong interests in seeing carbon nanotubes introduced into composite materials,” says Art Swift, President and Chief Executive Officer at Unidym, Menlo Park, California, USA. “For some time now we have supplied sample quantities of nanotubes to a variety of composite materials suppliers and their industrial customers. By aligning with Battelle, we are now able to leverage each other’s complementary strengths for the benefit of our customers.”

By combining their resources, Unidym and Battelle plan to jointly approach manufacturers and material suppliers to discuss the application of current research, gather specific customer requirements for high performance composite materials and present a licensing programme for their intellectual property portfolios.

“We have performed years of research into various applications of carbon nanotubes. Combining our experience with Unidym’s materials manufacturing capabilities and foundational patent portfolio provides our clients with an opportunity to accelerate the use of carbon nanotubes in nanocomposite material formulation and fabrication,” says Carl Kohrt President and CEO at Battelle.

Unidym; www.unidym.com
Battelle; www.battelle.org

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