May 13 2008
ApNano Materials, Inc., a provider of nanotechnology-based products, today announced that the Multisol Group, a leading distributor of advanced lubricating materials in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in cooperation with InS, an R&D company specialized in tribology, based in Genay, France, will begin to distribute in Europe high performance lubricant additives based on ApNano Materials’ NanoLub® – the world’s first commercial nanotechnology-based solid lubricant.
The innovative lubricants, containing NanuLub, significantly reduce the friction and wear of moving parts, and give excellent performance under extreme tribological conditions. NanoLub saves money, reduces pollution, is cost effective, safe and environmentally-friendly. Tests done under OECD international protocols prove that NanoLub is non-toxic or harmful. The enhanced lubricants are suitable for the automotive, industrial, aerospace and biomedical markets.
NanoLub is made up of particles of tungsten disulfide (WS2) that have a structure of nested spheres, called inorganic fullerenes. NanoLub lubricates using a combined mechanism: the particles lubricate by rolling like billions of miniature ball bearings and, in addition, the moving parts are covered with a lubricating thin film called tribofilm that covers the asperities or protrusions on surfaces, some only viewable under electron microscopes, that are the major cause of friction between sliding parts moving against one another. NanoLub is used as an additive to liquid oil or grease, and significantly enhances the lubricating properties of the oil or grease with respect to wear and friction by an order of magnitude. ApNano Materials produces NanoLub at its fully operational state-of-the-art automated plant in Israel.
Tests conducted both by leading academic institutes and by ApNano Materials’ own customers have demonstrated NanoLub’s superior lubricity features.
Multisol, a company with longstanding expertise in the European lubricant and additive market, has committed significant resources and capital to the market development of NanoLub over the next three years,. The agreement is the result of fruitful cooperation between ApNano Materials, Multisol and InS. Multisol recognizes the very important impact that nanotechnology and ApNano’s materials holds for the future of lubrication and industry worldwide. Following the current agreement, the three companies will also continue their efforts in the field of special coatings based on NanoLub.
“The partnership between the three companies will enable European users to benefit from lubricants and greases that include a sophisticated and innovative nanotechnology-based additive with super-lubricity capabilities,” said Dr. Menachem Genut, President and CEO of ApNano Materials. Dr. Genut was a research fellow in the original research group which discovered the inorganic fullerene nanoparticles at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and first to synthesize the new material. The group was led by Professor Reshef Tenne, currently the Director of Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Nanoscale Science at the Weizmann Institute.
“ApNano Materials has already entered into the full commercial phase and we expect the demand for NanoLub to increase dramatically,” said Aharon Feuerstein, Chairman of ApNano Materials. “NanoLub has attracted huge interest across the world.”
InS will use its advanced tribological laboratories to identify the key areas for industrial application of NanoLub-based lubricants and to seek to maximize the benefits from the materials’ unique properties.
“Since we have been working on extremely difficult cases of friction in various industrial sectors that we are covering, it is the first time that we find a material that answers such a wide range of friction issues,” said Eric Gard, Managing Director of InS. “The more we study the material’s properties and work on potential applications, the more we are convinced that Nanolub® represents a real revolution in lubrication. We have not seen that since the 1960s, when molybdenum disulphide additives were developed. NanoLub will bring a new era for the generation of lubricants.”
Multisol, with its highly qualified application engineers, will promote these products in the lubricant manufacturing sector. “Multisol are delighted to be working exclusively with ApNano Materials, developing the market for this exciting new cutting edge technology,” said Paul Oliphant, Multisol Group Chief Executive. “We are confident that we can help our European customers and suppliers discover excellent opportunities to significantly improve the performance of their products.”
“We see very attractive perspective with this project, handled by Multisol France on behalf of the Group, and we can say that the first feedback received from the European lubricant market is already very promising.”