Keywords: advanced manufacturing, aerospace composites, carbon nanotube, industrial durables, roll to roll
In Q1 2014, General Nano was awarded a Commercial Readiness Program by the Air Force to scale uniquely long and pure MWCNTs. To accelerate time to commercialization and to minimize capital expenditure, a strategy chosen and executed by GN is to decouple the sheet manufacturing into three unit operations. A patent pending, liquid catalyst on continuous substrate was developed to replace an electron beam, batch deposition process on silicon wafer. Data suggests the catalytic activity and property variation of CNT sheets are similar to electron beam. In addition, its estimated cost is substantially lower. The second unit operation is CNT synthesis. Precision chemical vapor deposition used for semiconductor fabrication is the norm. Our development team demonstrated growth on a moving belt using the liquid catalyst system. The kinetics is quantified to scale toward 10 – 100 kg/day. Lastly, rollstock manufacturing is a reengineered but standard roll-to-roll process. A provisional patent has also been filed. Data from this unit operation is tabulated to show variational mechanical and electrical properties. Finally, application evaluations from aerospace to industrial durables will be presented.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 4, Advanced Manufacturing, Electronics and Microsystems: TechConnect Briefs 2015
Published: June 14, 2015
Pages: 29 - 30
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topic: Advanced Manufacturing
ISBN: 978-1-4987-4730-1