Haydale announced that its composites division Haydale Composite Solutions (HCS) has entered into a joint development and commercialisation agreement with Scott Bader Company, a global supplier of liquid resins, gel coats and adhesives.
Under the agreement, HCS will functionalize Graphene Nano Platelets utilising its proprietary HDPlas® process and add them to Scott Bader’s Crestapol resin to create a highly loaded masterbatch. This masterbatch will then be diluted down by Scott Bader and HCS into a range of concentrations from 1% to 8% and cast into resin plaques which will then be tested to quantify any improvements in mechanical, physical, electrical and thermal performance.
Preliminary work has already demonstrated that the functionalized GNP’s readily disperse in the Crestapol resin to produce a masterbatch with loadings of GNPs up to 25% by weight. Initial mechanical test results conducted by HCS have indicated increases of up to 200% in both tensile stiffness and strength which represent a major leap forward in resins technology. It is anticipated that there will be similar significant uplifts in electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and physical properties which would open major opportunities for Crestapol resins in a wide range of composite applications such as thermally conductive tooling, EMI shield enclosures, lighter weight wind turbines etc.
Under the agreement, it is anticipated that Scott Bader and HCS will develop and validate the use of Graphene enhanced Crestapol resins in targeted composite applications and that Scott Bader will then supply graphene enhanced Crestapol resins to markets across the world utilising graphene masterbatch supplied by HCS.