NANOCOMPOSITES | TECHNOLOGY Graphene is growing
Nano-scale additives such as graphene offer an opportunity to extend the performance of thermoplastics compounds beyond today’s limits, writes Jennifer Markarian
Nanoscale additives—in the range of 1 to 100 nanometers (nm)—offer unique features in polymer composites due to their size, structure, and interaction with polymers and other fillers. De- pending on the specific formulation, these nano- scale additives can enhance electrical and thermal conductivity, barrier properties, and mechanical properties, and generally do so at very low addi- tion levels. This can result in a much reduced trade-off in other properties when compared to conventional additives, which may require much higher loadings to be effective. Graphene — either in the more recognised form
of two-dimensional flat sheets (nanoplatelets) or as single wall tubular structures (single wall carbon nanotubes — SWCNTs) — are an emerging additive for multiple industries, including energy storage batteries, coatings and paints, as well as thermoplas- tic composites. In recent years, graphene suppliers have been adding manufacturing capacity. And while this capacity growth is driven to a large part by the anticipated need for materials to make batteries for the growing electric vehicle market, the thermo- plastic compound market is also a target. Luxembourg-based OCSiAl last year reached its
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planned capacity of 50 tonnes/yr of its Tuball SWCNTs (it uses the term graphene nanotubes) at its second facility, which adds to the 30 tonnes/yr from its first line at its Novosibirsk site in Russia. The company says it plans to continue to upgrade its existing production units to increase production volumes as well as building a new production unit in Luxembourg that is slated to start up in 2024 and is intended to provide an eventual capacity of up to 100 tonnes/yr. The company also opened an R&D center at its Luxembourg site in September last year. The company received approval from the US EPA
(Environmental Protection Agency) in 2019 to commercialise Tuball products in the US in industrial quantities, and in April 2020 updated its REACH registration to up to 100 tonnes annually in Europe. OCSiAl says that Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles will require significant volumes, predicting that these batteries could use as much as 250 tonnes of SWCNTs by 2025. Other applications are also said to be progressing as well. In thermoplas- tics, for example, the additive is being used to impart electrical conductivity for electrostatic dissipative (ESD) protection. It says Tuball has an advantage over carbon black in that materials with
Main image: Graphene’s two-dimen- sional sheet structure presents opportunities for thermoplas- tics modifica- tion and production volumes are increasing
October 2021 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 15
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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