Multi-porous carbon catalysts in advanced manufacturing

Thrupore is a specialty manufacturer of carbon-based catalysts which combine porosities of up to 80% with an industry-leading crush strength of 5.4 lbs/mm versus 2.8 lbs/mm for the closest competitor, resulting in a light-weight (0.28 g/mL versus 0.52 mg/mL for competitors), yet strong carbon compound. Thrupore carbon is commercially used as a delivery vehicle for other catalysts, whereas its special properties allow for a much lower loading of expensive catalysts (often precious metals) compared to competitors’ products. In many applications, Thrupore’s carbon compound even served as an effective catalyst on its own, with significant cost- and environmental benefits compared to the prior situation. Thrupore carbon is the first compound of its kind with adjustable precursor rheology, which allows forming of the precursor into a wide range of shapes. The manufacturing process for the precursor is proprietary and patented to Thrupore and is routinely applied to synthesize carbon beads within tight size and form factor constraints according to specifications imposed by Thrupore’s present customers in the chemical- and textile industries. The powder synthesis process can be readily generalized to a wide range of additive manufacturing modalities: the carbon precursor can be deposited as a paste or deposited in an inkjet (“3D printing”) process, and subsequently treated thermally or through laser sintering. An obvious Air Force application would thus be the Air Force’s Research Lab’s efforts to create higher-temperature polymer composites using 3D printing with carbon filaments added to polymer resin, with Thrupore Carbon’s light weight and flexible rheology the most attractive features. Thrupore’s carbon manufacturing process is continuous, which reduces waste inherent in competitors’ batch processes and allows for a wide range of recycling of carbon compounds. The latter is in line with the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office’s mission to find lower-cost and more sustainable processes for additive manufacturing. A related additive manufacturing application for Thrupore’s catalysts is a new coating technology using resol-formaldehyde polymers developed by Thrupore. With catalytic enhancement, curing of protective coatings using that process has been shown to accelerate by two orders of magnitude, from 12 hours to 7 minutes for one application. Since the method can be used to adjust the roughness and adhesive wettability of many surfaces, it can help the Air Force Research Lab’s Munitions Directorate find improved ways to bond additively manufactured parts with dissimilar materials.