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![What is InnovaOon to Thomas Swan?
Performance Chemicals / Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials
“Innovation is any new idea, no
matter how small or large, that
adds value [to the company].”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1hvmgnm17swan-201012151315/75/Materials-and-processes-8-2048.jpg)
Uploaded byJustin Hayward
Materials and processes
Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. is a UK-based company that produces performance chemicals and advanced materials, including graphene. The company has a long history in the chemical industry and has been producing graphene through a scalable liquid phase exfoliation process since 2014. This process allows for the flexible production of a range of 2D materials, such as graphene, boron nitride, and molybdenum disulfide, in dispersions and powders. Thomas Swan sells these 2D materials and 2D material-enhanced composites for applications requiring improved mechanical, thermal, and barrier properties.
Materials and processes
- 1. Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. Leaders in performance and speciality chemicals www.cir-strategy.com/events 15th Anniversary HighValue Manufacturing & 4th New Materials & Graphene Conference 2017 2-3 November 2017
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- 3. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Our Graphene Story… Overview
- 4. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Material Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd.
- 5. History Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Four generaOons of Swan family
- 6. Core Chemical experOse Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials
- 7. Thomas Swan Group Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials
- 8. What is InnovaOon to Thomas Swan? Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials “Innovation is any new idea, no matter how small or large, that adds value [to the company].”
- 9. PlaUorm for InnovaOon Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials
- 10. The PaOent Investor Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Carbon Nanotubes Application Time Line* *As written in 2004…!
- 11. The InnovaOon Challenge Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials
- 12. Failure Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Failure is a critical part of innovation hVps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5eIyRVpwmc
- 13. Failure Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Supercritical Fluids • Launched 2001 as world’s first conOnuous, high pressure supercriOcal fluid reactor • Laboratory, pilot plant and commercial scale producOon • PotenOal for faster, cleaner chemistry
- 14. The recipe for graphene… Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials
- 15. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Grant Funding Supply Chain Development Time! Publicity AuthenOcaOon Process Development
- 16. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials We selected a scalable high shear exfoliaOon route: Ø Ambient condiOons. Ø No ultra-sonicaOon. Ø No aggressive chemistry. Ø Range of solvents – including water. Liquid phase exfoliaOon 3D RMs Solvent Dispersant 2D material producOon ExfoliaOon of 2D from 3D by high shear. Ø Range of mineral raw materials. Ø Scalable mineral processing. Ø Products are stabilised 2D dispersions and powders. Developed in CollaboraOon with AMBER at Trinity College Dublin. Full scienOfic details have been published: Paton, Coleman et al., Scalable producOon of large quanOOes of defect-free, few-layer graphene by shear-exfoliaOon in liquids Nature Materials Volume: 13, Pages:624–630 (2014) The Direct Liquid ExfoliaOon Process
- 17. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials The Direct Liquid ExfoliaOon Process Liquid phase exfoliaOon 3D RMs Solvent Dispersant 2D material production Exfoliation of 2D from 3D by high shear. Polishing Polishing step Optional fine polishing to control number of layers Product TesOng Quality Assurance Product Testing & process monitoring. Separator 2D/3D separation Separation and recycle of 3D RM. 3D RMs Wash unit Washing Modulation and control of dispersion concentration surfactant Tunable process allows for flexible design of 2D Materials products Patent protected process
- 18. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials The Direct Liquid ExfoliaOon Process • Developed with funding support from EU H2020 • Manufacturing capacity for Elicarb® Graphene products 20 tonne/yr. • Ambient processing with no oxidaOon chemistry – giving prisOne, non-oxidised products. • Flexibility to manufacture range of 2D products including Elinova® Boron Nitride and Elinova® Molydenum Disulfide. • Tunability to manufacture range of product grades from few-layer to mulO-layer
- 19. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Graphene – the product! Elicarb® Graphene Epoxy Dispersion 15% w/w Dispersion of Elicarb® Materials Grade Graphene in Epoxy Resin
- 20. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Graphene ApplicaOons
- 21. 2D Product ApplicaOons – Mechanical Elicarb® Graphene platelets improve mechanical proper;es of polymers with small addi;ve levels. Results to be published soon in scien2fic papers. 1% w/w Elicarb® Materials Grade Graphene in epoxy resin • Flexural strength increases by 22%. • Flexural modulus increases by 28%. 1% w/w Elicarb® Materials Grade Graphene in laminated carbon composite: • Flexural strength increases by 15%. • Flexural modulus increases by 28%. 1% w/w Elicarb® Materials Grade Graphene in polypropylene: • Tensile modulus increases by 15%. • Improvements also observed in other thermoplasOcs and elastomers (EPDM, SBR, PU). Performance Chemicals / Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Flexural - 3 point bending Tensile TesOng
- 22. Performance Chemicals /Custom Manufacture / Advanced Materials Other 2D Materials Strong bonds within plane , weak bonds between planes 2D Boron Nitride • Chemically manufactured material • White powder • Honeycomb structure of alternaOng B and N atoms • High dielectric material • Chemically inert ceramic • Very high thermal conducOvity • Mechanical strengthening • Gas and chemical barrier Boron nitride (h-BN) Graphite Graphene • Natural mineral – exisOng mining industry • Black powder • Honeycomb structure of C atoms • High electrical conducOvity • Chemically inert carbon • Very high thermal conducOvity • Mechanical strengthening • Gas and chemical barrier.
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