CompositesWorld
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TRENDS FEBRUARY 2016 20 CompositesWorld Walton Process Technologies, Inc. Best Customer Service in The Industry www.autoclaves.com Mansfield TX 682-518-9002 Service/Repair Retrofit/Relocate Autoclaves Bond Presses Batch Process Controls Ovens Parts The Mackinac Group and Mackinac Polymers LLC (Ft. Myers, FL, US) recently announced that Mackinac Polymers has received a patent for electroactive polymers technology, a signifcant advance that enables the inser- tion of metallic nanoparticles into a polymer backbone to provide electrical properties. Compatible with thermoplastic and thermoset resin chemistries, the technology reportedly eliminates the need for additives or conduc- tive fllers to achieve electroactive properties, says the company. Further, the nanoparticles reportedly will not leach out of the polymer, and the physical and processing characteris- tics that would ordinarily be expected from an unaltered polymer are maintained after insertion of the nanoparticles. The overall result, therefore, is not only cost savings but also a net improvement in performance (photo shows chemist Bill Cowell, left, and chief scien- tist Ralph Locke, one of the patent holders, at Mackinac's Florida lab). "We can insert basically any metal on the periodic table that we can obtain at the nano-size level," says Mackinac Group's president Don Phillips. "This is not a doping process. We're working with materials in the 30-50 nm size range, including Fe 2 O 3 , CuO, AgCl, AgO, Ag 2 Se, Au, Al, all transitional as salts." According to published reports, the group claims the new metallic polymers show conductivity of 10-14 Siemens/meter (S/m) to 4.7 million S/m, within the range of traditional compounds that are New polymer technology improves electroactive functionality Source | Mackinac Polymers LLC