Nov 1 2011
Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) has added graphene technology to its portfolio, company officials announced today.
Cabot has added this emerging performance technology to its portfolio through an intellectual property licensing agreement with XG Sciences, Inc. Under the agreement, Cabot will license intellectual property rights to XG's xGnP graphene nanoplatelets technology, including detailed know-how regarding the manufacturing process.
The move is consistent with Cabot's commitment to provide customers with enabling materials solutions that deliver high performance, said Fred von Gottberg, Cabot vice president, New Business segment.
"Graphenes have the potential to be a dramatic step forward for our customers as they strive to find ways to make parts lighter, stronger or store energy more effectively," said von Gottberg. "Our expertise in carbon black production, surface treatment and material science makes us a natural fit for delivering performance in automotive plastics, electronics packaging, advanced batteries and other applications with graphenes.
Graphenes are highly electrically and thermally conductive, mechanically strong, thin sheets of carbon atoms. They are used as performance-enhancing materials in composites to add strength, stability, electrical and thermal conductivity, and other properties at lower loading levels than traditional materials.
"XG Sciences has been working with graphenes for six years," said Michael Knox, XG chief executive officer. "We are excited to see a company like Cabot take the technology to the next level."
Although both are made from carbon atoms, graphenes, because of their unique shape and structure, provide different application opportunities from standard carbon black. For example, the thermal transfer properties of graphenes extend beyond those of carbon black, making graphenes useful for applications in plastics that are heat sensitive and require a good conductor of heat. Because the particles are flat, graphenes can also be used as a barrier layer to reduce gas transfer in packaging applications.