11-04 :: April/May 2011

nanotimes Companies

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Alcohol

Untreated 50:50 Cotton Nylon

Treated 50:50 Cotton Nylon

Untreated military uniform on the left, Alexium flame retardant uniform on the right © Alexium

Water

Water and alcohol ‘floating’ on the surface of Alexium treated textile. © Alexium

Production process, © Alexium

The RST process is fast, inexpensive and uses stan- dard ‘off-the-shelf‘ chemicals, and it can be used in conjunction with many other existing manufacturing processes. John Almond stresses that originally the technology was developed for chemical and biolo-

gical suits, initially developed by US Department of Defense (DoD). By developing the technology the focus is/was on the cooperation with external part- ners in order to “apply this technology to give new functions to other types of military apparel.”