 The undeniable leader in the domain of nanostructured materials, Arkema focuses its services on 2 product categories:
Graphistrength® carbon nanotubes: a fully adaptable product Solutions adapted to each client’s needs  Carbon nanotubes leave the production center in a powder form. To meet our clients’ various needs, Graphistrength® nanotubes are marketed in several forms: powder, water dispersal, dispersal in a thermoplastic or rubber matrix, etc. “Our clients can choose whichever form will ensure a homogenous diffusion of carbon nanotubes in their products,” explains Jean-Marc Copart, Director of the Carbon Nanotubes Department. This approach helps best exploit the extraordinary properties of carbon nanotubes, such as their electrical conductivity, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity.
A rapidly growing market Objective: Become the leading manufacturer of carbon nanotubes at less than €50/kg  Graphistrength® carbon nanotube powder is currently produced in a “pilot laboratory” at an annual rate of 20 metric tons. Beginning in 2010, a pilot plant with a production capacity between 250 and 400 metric tons per year will be operational (near Lacq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of France). This industrialization is necessary in order to meet growing demand and to reduce production costs.
Acrylic block copolymers: a unique product on the market  An Arkema exclusive
Within the acrylic block copolymer market, Arkema is the only company offering certain kinds of controlled architecture polymers – the term is controlled radical polymerization. Our secret? “We’ve perfected new synthesis technologies, allowing us to obtain copolymer structures that until now have been difficult to produce industrially, even impossible to synthesize,” explains Daniel Lebouvier, Director of the Nanostructured Polymers Department. At the core of this patented procedure, a molecule called BlocBuilder® After having tested hundreds of molecules, Arkema has identified one that allows for the controlled composition of many polymers in a simple and reliable manner (see info box). “It’s this patented molecule that Arkema uses to produce a whole line of acrylic block copolymers, called the Nanostrength® line,” Daniel Lebouvier says. Many uses More resistant thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers, dispersing agents for paint and ink, encapsulation and controlled diffusion of active ingredients, additives for oils and lubricants…the prospects are promising. Arkema hopes to increase its sales by a factor of 10 in 2009. Helping manufacturers use nanomaterials A policy of supportive partnerships Nanomaterials have just recently started to leave the laboratory. Though they currently have many uses, most of these have not yet been imagined. For this reason, Arkema collaborates with many other companies, also helping to  adapt its services to their eventual uses.
“We’re in contact with over 200 companies worldwide that may eventually use our products,” Daniel Lebouvier explains. “We invest ourselves more heavily in companies that plan to use our products. Already, more than ten industrial partnerships have been thus concluded.” Zyvex Performance Materials, a close partnership with Arkema since 2005 Located in Ohio in the United States, Zyvex Performance Materials is a company specializing in epoxy composites. This startup develops ways to increase the mechanical resistance of materials by integrating carbon nanotubes. Its main centers of activity: athletic equipment, energy, and aeronautics. “Reinforcing composites with carbon nanotubes significantly reduces their weight, an attribute which can serve many purposes. For example, we can now manufacture much larger blades for wind turbines, something we could never do without carbon nanotubes,” Jean-Marc Corpart states. |
