Applied Nanotech Achieves Greater than 40 and 30 Percent Improvements in Flexural and Tensile Strength for Carbon Nanotube Enhanced Vinyl Ester Resins

Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc.  APNT is pleased to announce that it has achieved a greater than 40 percent improvement in flexural strength and greater than 30 percent improvement in tensile strength and modulus for its vinyl ester/carbon nanotube composites in the base resin form. These improvements were obtained through the chemical and mechanical modification and functionalization of carbon nanotubes in order for them to be accepted and integrated properly into the vinyl ester matrix.
Applied Nanotech has made significant progress in this development of vinyl esters, particularly for use in fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP). Many have tried adding carbon nanotubes to make vinyl ester-based materials stiffer, lighter, and stronger, but results have been mixed, due to the challenges in reinforcing vinyl ester resins with nanomaterials because of some key technical issues. Furthermore, the properties of these new vinyl ester/carbon nanotube composites have historically not been easily transferable to FRPs, but by using its new composite, Applied Nanotech has achieved a very promising 31percent improvement in the flexural strength and 20 percent improvement in the flexural modulus of the final glass FRP composite.
"There exists a very positive and defined market opportunity for this technology. By extending the improvements of mechanical properties in our vinyl ester base resin to FRP composites, our carbon nanotube reinforced vinyl ester resins will further reduce the weight of composite materials in these applications while maintaining adequate strength," said Dr. Zvi Yaniv, Chief Executive Officer of Applied Nanotech, Inc.
Vinyl ester materials are used in a variety of industries and are the fastest growing segment of thermosetting resins because of their combined inherent toughness with outstanding heat and chemical resistance. Vinyl esters are thought to be the next generation replacements of existing thermosetting resins such as unsaturated polyesters. The foremost application of vinyl esters is in glass reinforced laminates for corrosion resistant equipment and parts. Vinyl ester corrosion coatings are widely used today for steel tank linings and industrial flooring. Vinyl esters are also used in renewable energy sectors, where more than 100 million pounds of vinyl ester resin was used for wind mill blades in 2009. Other significant markets for vinyl esters include construction and electrical components, automotive structural applications, polymer concrete vessels for mining and chemical operations, grating, high performance marine applications, and sporting goods.
"Building on our recent successes in sporting goods and defense applications, we will pursue customers and strategic partners in other markets served by this potentially breakthrough technology, leveraging our position of strength to gain traction in new and different sectors," commented Mr. Doug Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc.