Technology discovered at K

Strolling around the exhibit halls we noted these technology tidbits, ranging from ever-increasing DVD storage, to a new nanomolding process and a fuel cell advance.

Holographic data storage targets terabyte territoryNext-generation high-capacity DVDs

boasting capacities of up to 50 GB are set to debut in late 2005 (see November MP/MPI) but don''t expect storage volumes to stop increasing there. Bayer MaterialScience (Leverkusen, Germany) is working with partners to develop recording media that employ holographic techniques to realize capacities of 100 GB and more. The long-term road map could envision future-generation discs with capacities in the terabyte territory (1024 GB).

Eckard Foltin, head of Bayer''s Creative Center in Leverkusen, says, "Initial applications will include backup for programming at television broadcasters [currently stored on tape], and mass markets such as computer data storage would eventually be developed."

Bayer is working on two concepts for holographic data storage in what would most likely be a 3-mm-thick disc format: layer technology and molecular level storage techniques. In the first, data would be stored over multiple layers throughout the disc. The second would entail using "photo-addressable polymers," which are plastics whose molecular structures can be altered reversibly using lasers.

Work on high-capacity storiage is also underway at the Imperial College London in England, the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Researchers there has conjured a means of accommodating 1 TB of data on an optical disk the size of a DVD. The method records multiple bits of information in a single pit rather than one. Information is encoded in the angle of a pit, and the method can distinguish among 332 different angles. The storage method could be ready for practical application within 10 years, according to the researchers.

Nanomolding technology bonds aluminum to plasticsThe latest processing development at Japanese processor Taisei Plas (Tokyo) is a wet bonding process for joining plastics such as PBT or PPS to aluminum. In the company''s Nano-Molding Technology (NMT), aluminum sheets are first pressed into their final shape and then treated with a series of chemicals (alkali, acid, and a proprietary solution) to remove rust and grease and to create tiny "dimples" with diameters of 20 to 30 nm on the surface. The aluminum components are then rinsed and dried.

Upon insert molding, the injected resin penetrates these dimples and a very strong bond is thereby formed between the aluminum and plastic. Glass fiber or carbon fiber is compounded into the PBT and PPS to match their linear expansion coefficients with aluminum. In demonstrations at K 2004 in October, Taisei Plas demonstrated that the PBT or PPS material fails before the plastic-aluminum bond does.

"In Japan, the first commercial application is in a Sony remote control unit," says Taisei Plas president Masanori Naritomi. Hybrid PPS/aluminum parts made using NMT are also currently being tested for use in automobile engine room applications. The required performance here is 3000 heat cycles in 1 hour at -55ºC followed by 5 minutes at 150ºC. Other target applications include plasma display housings, mobile electronic device casings, and auto electronic control unit (ECU) housings.

Extensive plastics use slashes fuel cell cost

Ticona (Kelsterbach, Germany) has unveiled a prototype plastics-based hydrogen fuel cell that, if mass-produced at a level of 20,000 2-kW units, would cost only €790kW (stack cost). The cost of the prototype itself was €3000/kW, which is also significantly less than existing fuel cells that extensively employ stainless steel components that typically cost €10,000/kW.

Fuel cell technology should be available for commercial-scale production by 2010 at the latest; the EU has set a target of reducing stack production costs to e500/kW by then. "With &eur;790/kW, we are already very close to meeting the target," says Ticona President Lyndon Cole.

The heart of the fuel cell is comprised of bipolar plates made from graphite-filled Vectra liquid crystal polymer (the graphite loading is around 85%), manufactured by SGL Carbon. These can either be stamped from rolls or injection molded. End plates and connection parts are molded from Fortron PPS.

Ticona is working with German start-up Pemeas, based in Frankfurt, to incorporate the latter''s polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane material in commercial fuel cells. This will enable operation at higher temperatures on the order of 120ºC to 200ºC.

Carsten Henschel, director of communications at Pemeas, says, "Higher operating temperaturs enable simpler fuel cell design." For example, low-temperature cells require complex water management systems to humidify membranes, whereas PBI does noit require humidification. PBI membranes are more tolerant of CO contaminants in hydrogen reformed from natural gas, so gas purification is also simplified. Stainless steel-based fuel cells cannot operate at such high temperatures due to corrosion issues.

"The first volume commercial applications for fuel cells will most likely be portable devices [such as mobile phones]," says Thomas Hensel, VP of marketing at Ticona. Usage should also spread rapidly to residential power and the automotive sector.

Stephen Moore [email protected]

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