Advanced Materials

IDTechEx attended and presented at the International Aerogel Seminar held in Hamburg, Germany, between the 24th and 26th of September.

In this article we introduce in-mold electronics and consider its value proposition. Next, we will examine the requirements from IME compatible materials such as stretchability, stability, adhesion, etc. Finally, we will consider how the menu of IME materials is evo

IDTechEx CEO Mr Raghu Das interviews Steven Bagshaw of UK-CPI, discussing the projects they are currently working on in the smart packaging industry and how this sector interacts with the printed electronics and energy storage sectors.

It took a decade and half to enable the first commercial products using flexible barrier or thin film encapsulation technologies. Contrary to some assumptions however, this success does not mean that the question of barrier technology is forever settled. Indeed, there is still much work to do to render flexible barrier technology a ubiquitous, widely-available, and low-cost component in devices of all sizes, sensitivity levels, flexibility degrees, and so on.

Graphene is not a young material: the Nobel Prize was awarded in 2010 and the first pioneering firms were established before that c. 2006. Graphene thus has more than a decade of commercial experience already. As IDTechEx have argued previously, after all this time, graphene is becoming increasingly available and affordable and is finally findings its first wave of volume markets. In this article, we will look at the evolution of graphene commercialization so far and will offer some insights about the future.

Synthetic biology is making strides in key applications, armed with the ability to create materials never possible before.

The research hub is a collaborative effort between the aeronautics, chemical, civil, design and mechanical engineering as well as chemistry and materials science departments. According to the composites centre, the industry was worth £2bn in 2015 and is expected to reach £12bn by 2030.

Advanced Ceramic Fibers (ACF) manufacture specialty fibers for metal, polymer and ceramic matrix composites. Ken Koller (CEO/COO), Shawn Perkins (President), and John Garnier (Founder/CTO) spoke with IDTechEx technology analyst Richard Collins.

This article concerns TactoTek in Oulu Finland and how its technologies can scale up and create billion dollar businesses.

Advances in laser technologies over the past three decades have enabled lasers to progress from specialist scientific instruments to a diverse range of end-user markets. In this article, time periods where data storage and data communication segments dominated the laser diode market are coloured yellow, while the current era of emerging laser diode applications in material processing, sensing and healthcare is indicated by green shading in the charts.

Key areas discussed and displayed at the LCV event include the battery, powertrain, lightweighting, autonomous driving and electric vehicle charging, from not only the technology but also business model and policy perspectives.

The key next iteration for fiber reinforced polymer products will be the concept of multifunctionality. This is the idea of making a structural part carry out additional role(s) beyond their current primary mechanical task - the market for smart composite material is forecast to exceed 5 kilotons by 2029.

Diesel generator sets are noisy and polluting; reducing or limiting their use is beneficial for both human health and the environment. Despite this, their ability to provide reliable and weather independent power around the clock means that they are unlikely to be completely eliminated any time soon. Hybridisation of diesel generator sets through the integration of photovoltaics and/or battery storage presents an excellent opportunity to change our relationship with diesel gensets and save large quantities of fuel, CO2 and toxic pollutants. In this article, we look at the role of diesel + battery storage hybrid generator systems.

A key trend across many sectors is the multifunctionality of structural parts. This has extended to fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite material and the added functionality ranges to: enhanced electrical & thermal conductivity, embedded sensors & actuators, energy storage & harvesting, data transmission, self-healing, and adaptive response (morphing) mechanisms.

Like the car equivalents, 48V mild hybrid trucks do not start as electric vehicles (driving the wheels electrically some or all of the time) but they are headed that way.

This is a technological megatrend. Dumb load-bearing metal structures move to plastic and composite and incorporate energy harvesting and storage material - massless energy. Indeed you could call some of it negative mass energy. Goodbye components-in-a-box.

Mothership Aero started at August 2016. Mothership provides a relatively huge airship that might be able to carry heavy payloads and to generate power.

Kray Technologies provide drone spraying of agricultural fields and products.

Delair is a French company specializing in the design and manufacture of fixed-wing drones.

In January 2017 the world's lightest mechanical chronograph watch was unveiled in Geneva, Switzerland, showcasing innovative composite development by using graphene. Now the research behind the project has been published.