Nano specialist MITO Material Solutions, based in the US, says that it has received US$1.1 million to develop hybrid nanoadditives to help create lighter, tougher, and more durable composite products for automotive, wind energy, aerospace, and transportation.
The grant has come from the US National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant program (SBIR) and the Oklahoma Center for Advanced Science and Technology (OCAST) program, the company said.
Over the past year, MITO has reportedly scaled up its operations to accommodate commercial sales of its patented technology.
‘Our goal this year is to increase the production of our current product to commercial capacity while developing and launching two new products,’ said Kevin Keith, director of product engineering. ‘Our team is currently seeking corporate partners to work alongside in developing these products for market ready applications.’
The company chemically processes a nanoadditive by hybridizing graphene oxide and polyoligosilsesquioxanes (POSS) molecules that then disperse reactively in resin systems at a 0.1%/Wt concentration. MITO’s products are non-toxic, safe to handle and are engineered to integrate into common industry manufacturing processes including vacuum infusion, prepregs, hand layup and spray, the company says.
This story uses material from MITO, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
