The UK Technology Strategy Board launched a new collaborative R&D project called NanoSynth with a budget of almost a million GBP ($1.5 million USD) - to develop a synthesis platform for the industry-scale production of graphene-filled epoxy resins for advanced composite applications.
According to the NetComposites, the project coordinator, those graphene epoxy resins will improve current resins and will feature better strength, stiffness, toughness, electrical conductivity and thermal performance. The new resins may prove to have a significant impact on a wide range of markets, including the aerospace and automotive ones. The worldwide yearly market of epoxy resins is estimated at over $15 billion.
The companies will use ConCor milling to exfoliate commercially available graphite and disperse the resulting graphene directly into resin. They will develop new intermediate processing techniques which allow the resulting material to be used in the production of composite parts.
The NanoSynth project launched on April 2013 and will last for 33 months. The companies involved are NetComposites, Primary Dispersions, Cytec Industrial Materials, the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Nanoforce Technology, B/E Aerospace and Bombardier Aerospace.