Dr. Cecil Chappelow, VP innovation, sustainability, and chief innovation officer at PolyOne said, “We are honored by this award and confident that our development efforts will yield a significant portfolio of next-generation thermoplastic materials based on carbon nanotubes.”

The funds will support ongoing work for the joint development agreement between PolyOne and Zyvex announced in March. The companies are working together to produce carbon nanotube-filled thermoplastics for structural and electrical conductive applications. When carbon nanotubes are treated and processed for optimum dispersion and bonding, the resulting strength and conductivity in the compounds enable production of complex, structural designs with added thermal conductivity, EMI/RFI shielding, and antistatic capabilities.

PolyOne intends to compound the functionalized nanotubes with a variety of high-performance engineering thermoplastics and sell the compounds through its global commercial teams. Stratek Plastics Ltd. (Wallingford, CT) is also involved in the joint development, leveraging its Tek-Mix blending technology to optimize dispersion of the nanotubes.

“This grant underscores both companies’ commitment to the technology and our certainty that Zyvex Performance Materials and PolyOne have the expertise needed to drive thermoplastic nanocomposites to the next level of performance,” said Lance Criscuolo, president of Zyvex Performance Materials. “It will also allow us to accelerate our hiring plans and more rapidly introduce our technology commercially.” —[email protected]