N12 Technologies Inc. is partnering with the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) to ramp up production capacities of its flagship NanoStitch interlaminar reinforcement product. This partnership supports N12 Technologies’ high-volume production of NanoStitch using UDRI’s carbon nanotube (CNT) production technology. N12 Technologies developed the world’s first industrial process for vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) for composite reinforcement. “We are relentlessly pushing the composites industry forward,” says N12 Technologies CEO Brad Berkson. “NanoStitch has proven itself as a commercially-viable product and is attracting attention from some of the biggest companies within the aerospace, automotive, renewable energy and consumer goods industries. UDRI is a key partner in helping us to scale our business and establish NanoStitch as the industry standard for nano-enhanced advanced composites.”
India-based Dhanvantari Nano Ayushadi Pvt Ltd has plans to produce nano ayurvedic medicine for cancer therapy. The products are expected to hit the shelves in early 2018 after clinical trial. The company’s process uses herbs and spices such as cinnamon, tea or soyabean to synthesise gold nanoparticles. The activated gold nano particles are then used to make capsules and tablets that can be consumed. The technology was developed by Kattesh V Katti, Director, Institute of Green Nanotechnology, Medical School at the University of Missouri. Trials will be conducted over a period of 3-6 months on 100 people selected through random sampling. The company has invested ₹60 crore to license the technology, manufacturing unit and clinical trial.
The Ministry of the Economy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and OCSiAl, the world’s largest manufacturer of single wall carbon nanotubes, have agreed to collaborate with regard to the construction of a nanotube production facility that will have an annual capacity of 250 tonnes. OCSiAl’s investment will total about 80 to 100 million EUR and the project is expected to generate up to 200 highly qualified jobs in R&D, manufacturing, sales and marketing, maintenance and support services.
Researchers at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University are using carbon nanotubes in 3-D printed parts. “What we do is take 3-D printer filament and put a thin layer of our material, a carbon nanotube composite, on the outside,” researcher Brandon Sweeney said. “When you print the parts out, that thin layer gets embedded at the interfaces of all the plastic strands. Then we stick it in a microwave, we use a bit more of a sophisticated microwave oven in this research, and monitor the temperature with an infrared camera.” The technology is patent-pending and licensed with a local company, Essentium Materials. The materials are produced in-house, where they have also designed a new 3-D printer technology to incorporate the electromagnetic welding process into the 3-D printer itself. See a video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6s1aY7tmcU&feature=youtu.be
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued guidance materials for the recently-issued TSCA section 8(a) Nanotechnology Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements Rule (pdf) which becomes effective on August 14, 2017. This rule establishes one-time reporting and recordkeeping requirements for certain chemical substances when they are manufactured or processed at the nanoscale as described in the rule issued January 12, 2017. Read more at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-08/documents/august_2017guidance.8-7-2017_002.pdf
CNT ROCKETS
NASA has incoporated carbon nanotube yarns into a Composite Overwrap Pressure Vessel (COPV) used in recently launched rocket tests.
A cold-gas thruster system, partially made from carbon nanotubes, was recently tested aboard a Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket, which was launched on from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Part of the thruster system was a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV) incorporating a carbon nanotube yarn that has 200 times the strength and five times the elasticity of steel.
The nanotube fiber yarn used as the overwrap for the COPV in the test was manufactured by Nanocomp Technologies, Inc. The rocket launch as part of the Game-Changing New Developments program at NASA.
NANOCELLULOSE COMPOSITES
Furukawa Electric has announced plants to develop cellulose nanofiber-reinforced composites. The company is seeking to develop mass manufacturing mainly for application in the automotive industry. With its new technology, Furukawa Electric can make CNF composites for around $3.50 per kilogram. It does this in a single-step process by reacting the pulp and resin together with additives in an extruder, utilizing the same resin-processing technologies it uses to make wire cables.
Nanofiber medical devices
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and BioSurfaces Inc. have entered into an agreement to initiate a research program designed to develop innovative medical devices to treat patients with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases using BioSurfaces’ proprietary nanomaterial technology. BioSurfaces has developed a groundbreaking process for producing nanofibrous materials out of FDA-approved polymers.
