MATERIALS | NANOCOMPOSITES
Comparative thermo- gravimetric
analysis showing purity (multi-wall carbon nanotube content) of TrimTabs compared to industrial standards
Source: TrimTabs
for balancing the physical properties and process- ability of plastics. They are cost-competitive and help customers meet their ESG [environmental, social and governance] requirements,” said Moghimian. Lyten 3D Graphene can be engineered at the nanoscale, says California-headquartered materials producer Lyten. The company is growing – it expanded its California manufacturing facility in 2022 – and is setting up its European R&D head- quarters in Luxembourg, with further plans being made to build manufacturing facilities in Europe and the US. The company’s graphene materials go into various applications, including battery cells and sensors, as well as composite materials. In late 2022, the company launched a PE compound with 3D Graphene that can reduce weight by up to 35%. The company says the graphene additive is “infinitely tunable” to optimise strength, stiffness, and thermal and electrical properties. The three-year Graphene Alliance for Sustainable Multifunctional Materials to Tackle Environmental Challenges (GIANCE) project, funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe program, began in October 2023 and is a consortium of 23 partners aiming to develop and produce materials based on graphene and related substances for applications including automotive and aerospace. The project will support the ongoing EU Graphene Flagship initiative. At the AMIPP Advanced Polymer Center at
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in the US, Principal Investigator Tom Nosker continues to develop new materials using the university’s patented technology for in-situ exfoliation of graphite into graphene that takes place in a modified extruder. The graphene polymer matrix composites (G-PMCs) made using this low-cost, scalable, in-situ process have much improved stiffness that makes them suitable for automotive parts, such as body panels and bumpers. In addition, the composites are still thermoplastic and can be used in conventional thermoplastic convert-
16 COMPOUNDING WORLD | October 2024
ing processes. Recently, Nosker has developed a patent-pend-
ing process for a new composite that compounds carbon fibre into the exfoliated G-PMC. This composite, tested in multiple different plastics, has very high specific stiffness and strength that exceeds that of aircraft aluminium (per unit weight) and retains the processability of a thermoplastic material. The combination of the two reinforcing additives of significantly different minor dimen- sions – the graphene at approximately 0.33 nm and the carbon fibre at 20 microns – proved to be beneficial, Nosker explains. The work was per- formed in the Rutgers centre and the group is working with a potential scale-up partner.
Carbon nanotubes Versions of carbon nanotubes include multi-wall (MWCNTs) and single-wall (SWCNTs) that are used to provide electrical conductivity as well as improve mechanical properties. New ways of manufacturing carbon nanotubes are being developed. TrimTabs, a Wales, UK-based process technol- ogy company launched in 2019, is developing a new low-cost, continuous method of producing carbon nanotubes from hydrocarbons, including carbon from both pigmented and unpigmented plastic waste. The patented process uses only 15 kW of electrical energy to heat and catalytically convert waste plastic into carbon nanotubes, explains Alvin Orbaek White, CEO of TrimTabs. “When we started using plastics as a carbon source, we quickly found that certain plastics, used at 1-10% in the feedstock mix, had a beneficial effect on yields,” said Orbaek White. The company recently commissioned its first close-to-commercial-scale production unit and is in conversations with potential partners and customers. The next phase will be a commercial-scale, micro- factory that can be built within two shipping contain- ers so that it is able to be deployed anywhere and can be located near or even within a user’s facility.
www.compoundingworld.com
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