Tiny tech with a big future
Early successes in polymer nanotechnology

Nanotechnology was already a hot topic at K 2001. Even as early as three years ago, nanotechnology was no longer the stuff of fiction, although it still largely represented unexplored territory in the field of materials research. But that’s no longer the case. In the meantime, the first commercial successes have hit the market and a promising future lies ahead of this dwarf technology. This year’s K, International Trade Fair for Plastics + Rubber in Düsseldorf from 20 to 27 October 2004, will leave no one in doubt about it.
Nanotechnology is regarded as one of the most significant basic and key technologies of the still nascent 21st century. It throws the doors open on a whole new world of design options in chemistry and thus also in polymer chemistry. Customized plastics or so-called nanoclays, which when compounded with polymers optimize plastics’ inherent properties, can be developed with the greatest precision. Throughout the world, scientists labor over ever more complex structures on a nano scale — components that are many thousand times smaller than a human hair. But the veritable novelty of this technology lies not in creating particles measurable in nanometres – a process that has been at scientists’ command for generations. The real advance has been in gaining the knowledge and laying the technical foundations needed to actively design these minute components and control mixing them. The result: completely new materials with properties that were previously unimaginable in the relevant source material.

Taking a leaf out of nature’s book
In this endeavour, nature serves as the model. For the simple reason that, in all living cells as well as all natural processes, everything plays out in nano dimensions. Scientists school themselves in how molecules are organized by Mother Nature and attempt to imitate her structures in synthetic materials. Herein may truly lie the revolution still dreamed of in the laboratories of major raw materials suppliers. And this dream is a whole lot closer to becoming a reality. Cooking up new materials in synthetic chemistry demanded more than just an understanding of the nano universe. The analytical tools also had to be in place to allow researchers to gauge their own progress. Special new microscopes have opened our eyes to unimagined dimensions.
The business of the future
In the creed held by Rolf Mülhaupt, a professor at the University of Freiburg and head of the Materialforschungszentrum (Materials Research Center – FMF) at the same institution, nanotechnology represents a future going concern, boasting volumes estimated at e 200 to e 300 billion a year. Even if the lion’s share is gobbled up by the electronics industry, a hearty enough share of the pie still remains for expectations in the plastics industry to have soared, he says. For Mülhaupt, the lines of research fundamental to the business of polymer nanotechnology are nanostructured surfaces (such as the “lotus effect”), nanophase materials and polymer nanocomposites, in particular. The Freiburg professor notably sees nano fillers (nanoclays) as a whole new class of additives in step with the trend towards mining plastics’ untapped potential, without altering the manufacturing process.
Mülhaupt is also well aware that great strides have been made especially in this field over recent years. Not just nanocomposites and the additives necessary to making them are commercially available; machines for dispersing nanoclays into the matrix of a specific plastic are also on the market. Today, numerous specialist companies offer additives with nanostructures as well as a broad range of nanocomposites based on the most diverse polymer carriers. They are primarily intended for applications in vehicle construction, the electrical and electronics industry as well as in medical technology, where the benefits of the new materials are especially highly valued. These sectors also seem to be more willing to swallow the relatively high prices asked. In many instances, the expense is still a stumbling block on the path to major breakthrough for this new class of materials. But things could change – possibly as early as when the first offers are aired at the upcoming K 2004.