In our September 2021 Innovation Insights Webinar, viewers heard from:
Soydan Ozcan, Ph.D., Senior R&D Scientist, ORNL
- Recent Advances in Composites Recycling and Supporting Capabilities at ORNL – Circular economy and recycling are increasing in importance for all plastics, including polymer composites. Built for durability, composites are inherently difficult to recycle, however new solutions are being demonstrated to make end-of-life recycling economically practical. This presentation will focus on some recent work conducted in this area, and additions to the equipment portfolio at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that can be accessed by industry.
Dustin Davis, Director of Sales and Business Development, Norplex-Micarta & Lucy Houchin, General Manager, Norplex Advanced Composites
- Glass Epoxy Materials for High Fatigue Load Applications – Norplex Advanced Composites is a new business that brings decades of Norplex-Micarta’s composite material production excellence to the advanced composites market. With a focus on cost effective solutions for the middle market, a key initial product is the NorPLY brand of unidirectional glass epoxy sheets that excel in fatigue and dynamic loading applications. This presentation will detail the history of the product line, introduce applications, and highlight product line extensions that are planned such as prepregs that will allow customers to build custom geometries.
Kevin Keith & Haley Marie Keith, Co-founders, MITO Material Solutions
- Highly Engineered Additives for Every Day Products – When graphene and its derivatives were introduced into design parameters roughly 10 years ago, it was hailed as a “wonder material” due to the material properties it showed. It requires a totally homogenous dispersion though, leaving it largely available to select high-tier markets after years of R&D. MITO Materials has developed a hybrid additive based on graphene and has proven that it does not need a homogenous dispersion to achieve upwards of a 135% increase in mechanical properties at a much lower concentration while not requiring special mixing parameters. This allows graphene based products to penetrate markets once thought untouchable.
