SBIR/STTR Research Award

Novel Nano Grease Significantly Enhances Lubrication, Thermal, and Electrical Performance, for Mechanical Equipment, Computers, and Electronic Devices

Award identifier b32dc7651a613700e4f7f1afd073a37828cc2612169b6f1a4419425c938d6993Awarding agency Department of Defense · Air Force

Award amount

$149,968

Program and phase

STTR · Phase I

Award year

2021

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Award details

Awarding agency
Department of Defense
Branch
Air Force
Recipient company
H. F. WEBSTER ENGINEERING SERVICES, INC.
Proposal award date
2020-11-25
Contract end date
2021-05-25
UEI
R3M6DRJWMJN9
Solicitation number
X20.D
Topic code
AFX20D-TCSO1

Research abstract

Grease is found in a variety of applications ranging from electronics to general mechanical equipment as well as vehicles.  These greases are designed to serve a specific purpose.  Carbon and other nanomaterials, when matched to based oils based upon their chemistry can lead to a dramatic performance in many of these applications.  A key part of our innovation and intellectual property that makes this technology possible is that of the introduction of both carbon nanotubes and hydrogen bonding.  The innovators have developed a technique to utilize functionalized carbon nanotubes in order to maximize their interactions with the base fluids that form the grease.  The hydrogen bonding creates a pathway that increases electrical conductivity of the bulk material.  Normally it is very difficult to take advantage of the superior properties of individual carbon nanotubes as the junctions/gap between tubes is often so large that it creates a barrier that defeats the many advantages of carbon nanotubes.  The addition of functional groups such as hydroxyl groups can bridge this gap between tubes and overcome this gap/barrier.  It also allows for a bonding with the solvents and base fluids. Another part of this is that once we have dispersed the functionalized nanotubes in the grease base fluids, it is a stable solution that can be applied to the customers equipment as needed. Novel Nano Grease tribology testing revealed a 30% decrease in friction when compared to conventional greases.  Wear testing revealed a performance increase of 60% compared to conventional greases.  Novel Nano Grease has been prepared with thermal conductivity enhancements over the base fluid up to 545.9%.  A commercially available thermal silicone heat transfer compound from MG Chemicals showed thermal conductivity enhancements up to 143.3% with our novel addition of carbon nanomaterials.  In many cases the viscosity of the greases is not significantly changed. Generally, grease is not electrically conductive.  In applications that benefit from electrical conductivity the chemistry of the grease constituents may be matched in order to achieve the required conductivity.  Our proprietary technology utilizes functionalized carbon nanotubes along with other ingredients that are capable of hydrogen bonding, thus providing a conductive path.  Grease has been prepared with resistivity as low as 10.0 ?cm

Technology keywords

Not reported

Other awards by this recipient

Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.

Awards with the same topic code

Verified by an exact topic code match. This is not a text-similarity match.

Research funding history

5 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (2019–2022). Reported award amounts total $1,199,944. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.

Phases: Phase I, Phase II

Agencies: Department of Defense

Agency intelligence

Department of Defense

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