TAGS: Polymer Reinforcement
Nanoaugmented Materials Industry Summit 2019 (NAUM’19) held on 5 to 6 November, has concurred from the experts that graphene nanotubes are currently the most effective advanced anti-static additives.
Graphene nanotubes grant engineers the ability to produce totally new, highly innovative and competitive products. 450 experts from 31 country at NAUM’19 in Kyoto discussed the combination of conductivity, strength and the greater control over color that is now possible thanks to these tiny tubes.
TUBALL Nanotubes - Stronger Effect on Conductivity
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TUBALL nanotubes, produced by OCSiAl, appear to have a much stronger effect on the conductivity and homogeneous dispersion compared with standard carbon black, which demonstrated a number of disadvantages like hot spots,” said Faris Ustamujic, Airbus Defence and Space Senior Engineer.
A number of benefits result from the low loading level of graphene nanotubes, also known as carbon nanotubes, that are 10 or even 100 of times lower than those of the nearest analogues.
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When carrying out repairs, single wall carbon nanotubes, thanks to their conductivity properties, enable us to create a new life for aircraft components, where the insulating properties of epoxy resins are not allowed. There are no negative effects in wear rate, thermal resistance or bonding strength of the nanotube coating, which is important for us and for our customers,” added Melina Remers from Material Design Engineering at Lufthansa Technik Intercoat.
Carbon Nanotubes Replaced with TUBALL Nanotubes
Michail Nedanov, Project Engineer at SchäferRolls, shared his recent research, “
We were able to replace more than 12 weight percent of multi wall carbon nanotubes in epoxy industrial rollers with just 0.15 weight percent of TUBALL nanotubes, resulting in high efficiency, flexibility in coloring of the final product and a clean production process.”
Enhancing Composite Material with Graphene Nanotubes
Improving mechanical performance with graphene nanotubes is likely to be the next focus for technological developments. LEHVOSS Group sees a lot of potential in enhancing car bodies with graphene nanotubes, leading to weight reduction.
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We are scaling up our in-situ process polymerization production for PA6 with single wall nanotubes, developing different masterbatches for aerospace, automotive and industrial applications,” added Marco Burth, Product Development Manager.
Techplast, a European producer of innovative cylinders for breathing apparatus, industry gases and paintball, revealed that, by enhancing composite material with graphene nanotubes, they had been able to decrease the weight of their cylinders by 75 percent in comparison with conventional cylinders, making their new generation of products the lightest cylinders in the world and widening their application to CNG and hydrogen storage.
Nanotubes Provide Smarter Materials
Materials should go beyond being stronger to being smarter. Arrival Chief of Materials, Rob Thompson shared that single wall carbon nanotubes play an important role in vehicle crash performance or embedding sensors into coatings. By using single wall nanotubes, functionalities can be added into the materials without adding processes.
With single wall carbon nanotubes, Ivica Kolaric, Fraunhofer IPA Head of Department, was able to turn more than 16 square meters of car surface into an artificial smart skin for connected cars with sensors and that can change color on demand. Fraunhofer has made an aluminum reinforced with nanotubes for a premium OEM.
The Japanese companies Nagase ChemteX and Dynic Corporation shared their results for developing transparent conductive films with TUBALL nanotubes. “
We investigated most of the types of conductive additives, including graphite and multi wall carbon nanotubes, but we’ve chosen single wall carbon nanotubes as the most suitable solution,” said Shingo Shinohara from Nagase ChemteX. “
We believe that these nanotubes can effectively replace expensive ITO in touch panels and solar cells,” added Ryo Asano, Dynic Chief Developer.
Graphene nanotubes are finding their way into a growing number of specific applications, for example reducing the radar cross-section (RCS) of wind turbines, where Trelleborg Applied Technologies is using them to prevent interference with airport-approach radar systems. But these tubes are also continuing to be widely adopted as standard in mass-produced applications such as tank lining coatings, powder coatings, conductive primers, flexible foam polyurethane, fast curing cast polyurethane for printing, and flexographic printing; more applications will be added to this list in the coming year.
Source: NAUM’19