DETROIT – nanoScience Engineering Corporation, a spin-out company from Wayne State University, has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant of nearly $100,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop a manufacturing process for nano-structured composite materials.
The phase one SBIR project will identify the optimum supercritical fluid processing conditions and compare these technologies with the current technologies for polymer/clay nanocomposites. The expected result is to prove that this technology is scalable and represents a profitable opportunity for manufacturing polymer nanocomposites.
?Nanomaterials is the future for a number of applications from automotive to food packaging to electronics industries,? said According to Judy Johncox, associate director of venture development at WSU. ?WSU is excited about the potential significant impact this technology may have on Detroit?s dominant industry base that will ultimately help the economy grow.?
Esin Gulari, professor at WSU, co-inventor of the patents in the nSEC portfolio and co-founder of nSEC, said the company plans to apply for a phase two SBIR grant in early 2006.
?It is expected that this market in the automotive and packaging industries will be over $250 million by 2007,?? Gulari said. ?nSEC?s breakthrough technology will be a major factor in accelerating the growth of nanocomposites and other nanoengineered materials.?
