By Audrey Neuman.
These partnerships including the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Navy further validate the potential impact of these advanced materials. The disruptive material science platforms developed by Powdermet and its partners have applications in industries, such as Energy, Defense, and Transportation among others.
“Powdermet has been at the forefront of technical innovation for the past decade, and our expertise in nanotechnology and advanced materials development has attracted top-tier partners,” said Robert Miller, CEO of Abakan Inc. “The company is now focused on commercializing several of its technology platforms following our successful research and development which have shown very impressive results for these platforms. We expect to serve multi-billion dollar markets across a variety of industries.”
Powdermet’s EnCompTM Energetic nanocomposite materials improve both the energy density and power density of batteries. Powdermet has partnered with the U.S. Army to develop applications requiring instant-on storage of a large amount of electrical energy at high voltages for long periods of time without significant current leakage. Powdermet has utilized its nanoparticle synthesis and controlled dispersion processing capabilities to demonstrate melt-processable nanoparticle-filled engineered composite film dielectrics showing 20 to 30 J/cc of energy density, highlighting the opportunity for the technology to vastly improve energy storage technologies for the transportation and renewable energy sectors.
In addition to these initial defense applications, nanodielectric materials for smart grid applications are expected to represent a $500 million market by 2017 according toNanoMarkets. The nanodielectric materials are expected to have several other applications, replacing and enhancing batteries in the electric vehicle, consumer electronics and other industries, cumulating to a more than $1 billion market for nanodielectrics in the next five to seven years.
Additionally, Powdermet’s long-term collaboration with Michigan State University also received investment from the Department of Energy to further develop critical nanocomposite separators needed for ultra-high power density multivalent batteries based on ionic liquids. Multivalent batteries enable an order of magnitude increase in the power density of batteries, enabling the handling of high power loads in smaller, lighter, lower cost devices. This technology complements Powdermet’s ongoing efforts to develop encapsulated nanocomposite anode and cathode materials addressing needs within the $100 billion global advanced battery manufacturing value chain.
Finally, Powdermet’s MComPTM Microcomposite cermet (ceramic-metal) materials provide the friction and wear performance equivalent to advanced, diamond-like carbon coatings, but with the toughness, strength and formability of metals. Powdermet has partnered with the U.S. Navy to provide a solution to contamination issues in spherical plain airframe bearings using advanced coatings that have already been commercialized through Abakan subsidiary MesoCoat. These nanocomposite cermet materials have applications across the transportation, energy, military, construction and other sectors for reducing friction and extending the life of, or eliminating the need for lubricants, in highly stressed systems.
Abakan develops, manufactures, and markets advanced nanocomposite materials,innovative fabricated metal products and highly engineered metal composites for applications in the oil and gas, petrochemical, mining, aerospace and defense, energy, infrastructure and processing industries.
