Unidym,
Inc, a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research
Corporation, and Battelle have extended their existing relationship to
include an alliance focused on multi-functional nanocomposites for
aerospace and transportation applications. Under the alliance the
companies will collaborate with aerospace and automotive companies, and
their composite materials suppliers, which require carbon nanotube
formulated coatings, sealants, adhesives and load-bearing composites.
Research has shown that carbon nanotubes enhance these
materials though higher strength-to-weight ratios, corrosion
resistance, toughness, dampening and/or multi-functional electrical
properties, such as electrostatic dissipation, EMI/RFI shielding and
electrical conductivity.
"Unidym and Battelle have both been approached by customers
with strong interests in seeing carbon nanotubes introduced into
composite materials," noted Art Swift, Unidym's president and CEO. "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."
"Battelle and Unidym have capabilities to advance the
development and commercialization of high performance composite
materials," said Carl Kohrt, Battelle's President and CEO. "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."
The companies have combined resources in this way to jointly
approach manufacturers and material suppliers in order to discuss the
application of current research, gather specific customer requirements
for high performance composite materials and present a licensing
program for their intellectual property portfolios. Both companies have
seen significant industrial interest in applications such as high
performance carbon nanotube enhanced carbon fiber composites, carbon
nanotube based thermoplastic nanocomposites that can be injection
molded, and thermoset nanocomposites that can be fabricated with
various resin transfer molding (RTM) processes and through the
compression molding of nanostructured sheet molding compound (SMC)
formulations.
In addition to the market interest seen by both Battelle and
Unidym, significant academic research has been under way in the area of
carbon nanotube enhanced composites. In his article in the February
15th 2008 issue of Science (Vol. 319), after briefly covering the
significant findings of his group's recent research in this field,
Professor Satish Kumar of the Georgia Institute of Technology states
that "Potential applications of carbon nanotube fibers will thus be
those requiring high strength and stiffness in tension, high energy
absorption, and electrical and thermal conductivity. The low density of
these fibers would provide further weight savings." In the same
article, Professor Kumar goes on to conclude "Next generation carbon
fibers used for structural composites will thus likely be processed not
from polyacrylonitrile alone but from its composites with carbon
nanotubes."