SBIR Phase I: Carbon Nanocone Containing Materials and its Potential in Polymer Reinforcement

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop new classes of advanced composites containing a recently discovered form of carbon, called the carbon nanocones (CNC) and carbon nanodisks (CND). The company has acquired exclusive rights from the Norwegian company that came up with this new class of materials, and this research will focus on taking advantage of the unique structure, morphology and properties of CNCs and CNDs to develop new classes of advanced composites. The research will combine the advanced mixing technology developed by the company to uniformly distribute these nanomaterials into the matrix of the polymer composite with the aim to study the electrical, mechanical and thermal properties of the composite materials. The broader impact of this research, if successful and commercially implemented, will be in the development of a new class of advanced polymer composites for use in thermal insulation, high-strength structural materials, and conducting polymer composites, which can be used in many applications, from microelectronics to engineering components. The new class of materials will also be of lower cost than the carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The research also aims to develop manufacturing processes for the composites which will be much simpler and less expensive.