CNT are cylindrical structures of pure carbon with walls just one atom thick. Their diameter is 10,000 times smaller compared to human hair. They were discovered in 1991 and hailed as the Next Revolution in Material Science due to their unique properties including:
Compared to steel
Compared to copper
Given their exceptional properties, ideas started pouring in. We would soon be making paper-thin antiballistic vests, flying superlight airframes, and even building a space elevator! The possibilities with CNTs were endless!
It has been 30 years since their discovery. Where is the space elevator?
When manufactured, CNTs clump together into balls of millions, even billions of tubes. These clumps proved to be rather ineffective when added to materials… even detrimental. Attempts to detangle them burned through billions in development dollars. Successes getting the tubes discrete were short-lived as they would re-clump once added to a material.
Many in the scientific, engineering and manufacturing communities began to write off CNTs as a failure and moved on to other pursuits. BUT NOT US!!!
After more than a decade of research and development, Mechnano’s proprietary technology detangles and separates CNTs, then disperses them throughout AM materials without re-clumping.
The resulting discrete tubes (D’Func) can be tailored to the specific performance requirements for the selected system and deliver previously unattainable performance.
Mechnano turns inferior part alternatives into superior solutions—the possibilities are endless and the improvements exponential! Major breakthroughs have led to over 130 issued & pending patents – including composition of matter patents.
Mechnano is now delivering ESD properties to fabricated parts via our proprietary Masterbatches and AM Formulations using discrete CNTs. ESD is the first of many materials properties we are enhancing using discrete CNTs.
Contact Mechnano today to learn more about our current ESD solutions and emerging properties!
