- Nanotechnology revolution to sweep Indian textiles
Mumbai, May 22
http://www.financialexpress.com/print.php?content_id=91662
India is set to witness another revolution in the textile industry
in the next few years. After the success of Technology Upgradation
Fund (TUF), nanotechnology will be another trigger for the industry
to look forward to.
Using nanotechnology, fabrics can be altered at the molecular level,
creating advance materials that can be 100 times lighter in weight!
Nanotechnology fabrics can also be 100 times stronger. Objects made
from these materials could be up to 100 times lighter, using one-hundredth
amount of material. As a result, ultralight cars, trucks, trains,
and planes will use far less energy, especially with atomically
smooth surfaces to reduce internal friction and air resistance losses.
According to UK-based Cientifica, a company into disseminating information
on converting nanotechnology into commercial applications states
that industrial fabrics and textiles in general, will enjoy similar
gains in performance.
“Today, basic units of fabrics are molecules of natural and
synthetic materials such as cotton (cellulose), wool (alpha-keratins),
rayon (cellulose), polyester, and so forth. The molecules are tangled
together in various ways to form fibers, which in turn can be spun
into yarns,”Tim Harper, CEO, Cientifica explained. Mr Harper
was in India last week to announce its tie-up with Yash Management
& Satellite Ltd. to consider setting up nano-products manufacturing
project.
However, at the molecular level, the strength and toughness of a
fabric could be improved by reinforcing the fiber with carbyne molecules.
Carbyne is a linear chain of carbon atoms with alternating single
and triple bonds.
Although carbyne has been known for some time, only within the past
year have researchers successfully stabilised the molecule in long
(300-500 atoms) chains by capping the ends with trifluoromethyl
and nitrile radicals.
With molecular manufacturing, arbitrarily long chains will be possible.
Carbyne is extremely strong in tension compared to commercial rayon
and nylon.
A carbyne molecule could be cross-linked to other carbyne molecules
using the same sorts of structures that Drexler designed for gate
knobs in the mechanical nanocomputer. The strength and stiffness
of the resulting array could be adjusted by varying the number,
length, and geometry of the cross-links. Carbyne fibers made of
non-cross-linked molecular arrays would have an extraordinary degree
of toughness since cracks would not propagate from one molecule
to the next.
There will be virtually 100% efficiency in converting yarns to fabric
tensile strength due to the high level of uniformity in both strength
and elongation from one yarn to another. Fibre separation could
be eliminated as a failure mode by connecting individual fibres
end-to-end and making them continuous, but still bundled and twisted
in the same amorphous way. It seems possible to do this while maintaining
the look and feel of current fabrics, if desired.
- Nanotechnology Makes Packaging Intelligent, Smart and Safe
http://www.chemie.de/news/e/46235/?pw=a&defop=and&wild=yes&sdate=01/01/1995&edate=05/25/2005
05/25/2005
According to a new market study developed by Helmut Kaiser Consultancy
nanotechnology has been significantly increasing its impact on the
food and beverage packaging industry during last three years. The
sales of the nano-related packaging products have been rising from
US$ 150 million in 2002 to $ 860 million in 2004 worldwide. Nonetheless,
compared with the over $100 billion food and beverage packaging
industry, the growth potential of the nanopackaging is still enormous.
It is predicted that nanotechnology will change 25% of the food
packaging business in the next decade, that means a yearly over
$ 30 billion market. The packaging will become more and more a service
and try to meet as many customers' requirements as possible. Simple
traditional 'packing' is to be replaced with multi-functional intelligent
methods to improve the food quality.
The rocketing market growth comes mainly from the rapid multiplication
of the applications employing nanotechnology. While there were less
than 40 nanopackaging products in the market three years ago, this
number has been going beyond 250 today. Present major market trends
include enhancing the performance of packaging materials, prolonging
shelf life, antimicrobial packaging and interactive packaging.
Nanotechnology enables the designers to alter the structure of the
materials on the molecular scale, to give the materials desired
properties. With different nanostructure, the plastics can obtain
various gas/water vapor permeabilities to fit the requirements of
reserving fruit, vegetable, beverage, wine and other food. By adding
nanoparticles, people can also produce bottles and packages with
more light and fire resistantance, stronger mechanical and thermal
performance, and less gas absorption. These properties can significantly
increase the shelf life, efficiently preserve flavour & colour,
and facilitate transportion & usage. Further, nanostructured
film can effectively prevent the food from the invasion of bacteria
and microorganism and ensure the food safety. With embedded nanosensors
in the packaging, consumers will be able to 'read' the food inside.
Sensors can alarm us before the food goes rotten or can inform us
the exact nutrition status contained in the contents.
In the long run, nanotechnology is going to change the fabrication
of the whole packaging industry. Processing the atoms and molecules
will realize zero-emission recycle and save natural resources. Self-assembly
will in the end hugely reduce the fabrication costs and infrastructure.
More flexible packaging methods will provide the consumers with
fresher and customized products.
Nanopackaging has attracted the attention of industrial leaders,
governments and research institutes. Multi-national companies, such
as Krafts, Henkel, Bayer, Kodak, Budweiser, Pepsi, to name just
a few, all have their R&D projects concerning the application
of nanotechnology in the field of food & beverage packaging.
NASA, US Department of Defense and leading European institutes show
their special interests in the related segments as well. It is worthy
of noticing that China and Taiwan have already taken a firm foothold
in this market and are poised to be challenging competitors in this
market.
The study 'Nanopackaging 2005-2010-2015', developed by Helmut Kaiser
Consultancy, is based on constant market watch, broad surveys and
interviews during last three years. The study includes analysis
of the market development up to 2015 by countries and by market
segments, detailed listing of the present and potential market applications,
and description of the state of science and the technology trends,
together with a list of related patents. Governmental strategy &
support, ethical & social issues are parts of the study as well.
A comprehensive collection of the competitors and their activities
enables the readers to get insight of what is happening in every
company and every country.
- Article Title: Iomega bags patents in Nanotechnology
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/1899/105052504.asp
05/25/2005
NEW DELHI: Iomega Corporation has announced that the United States
Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued two patents
to Iomega for its work in Nanotechnology and optical data storage
and external storage media.
Titled under Method and Apparatus for Optical Data Storage, the
patent covers a novel technique of encoding data on the surface
of a DVD by using reflective nano-structures to encode data in a
highly multi-level format. This technology, termed AO-DVD (Articulated
Optical – Digital Versatile Disc), allows more data to be stored
on a DVD and could allow future optical discs to potentially hold
40-100 times more information with data transfer rates 5-30 times
faster than today's DVDs, and at similarly low costs.
This invention was recently recognized as a winner of the Nanotech
Briefs' Nano 50 awards in its product category.
The release further added that Iomega is working to investigate
the commercial feasibility of this format and other nano-structural
data encoding formats. One possibility being investigated, termed
NG-DVD (Nano-Grating – DVD), uses nano-gratings to encode multi-level
information via reflectivity, polarization, phase, and reflective
orientation multiplexing. Iomega is concurrently evaluating and
developing appropriate partners to leverage this intellectual property
for producing commercial data storage devices.
Another patent titled Interchangeable Cartridge Data Storage System
for Devices Performing Diverse Functions, was issued to Iomega,
third in a series of related patents related to bridge media –
the use of media, or disks, that can work on a computer as well
as other devices.
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