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Recent Awards
NanoMech Receives 2006 Innovation Award
- Fayetteville, Arkansas - NanoMech, LLC (www.nanomech.biz) has received an award from R&D Magazine for producing one of the 25 most innovative and ground-breaking technologies of 2006. NanoMech won the award for its nanostructured cubic boron nitride coatings for cutting tools and other wear applications. R&D Magazine and its affiliated Micro/Nano Newsletter conducted an inaugural MICRO/NANO 25 Competition to select the best micro- and nanotechnologies of 2006. According to the newsletter's editors, the products, processes and innovations they selected are "groundbreaking technologies that are likely to have the largest impact on their specific industries and society." Criteria used for selecting the winners included the uniqueness of the technology, the potential value and performance that the technology exemplifies, and the creation of new intellectual property as compared to existing technologies.
- The award provides additional national and international recognition for NanoMech and its nanostructured coating technology, following closely on the heels of the 2005 Excellence in Technology Award that NanoMech received earlier this year from Frost & Sullivan, a global consulting company known for its high-quality research on market trends and new technologies. NanoMech has developed nanostructured cubic boron nitride (cBN) coatings based on a patented electrostatic spray coating process originally developed at the University of Arkansas. NanoMech has exclusive license to this technology, and has demonstrated the feasibility and performance of the TuffTekTM cBN coatings for cutting tools through research and development projects funded by the NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. In announcing the award, Micro/Nano Newsletter noted that the application of cBN nanoparticles "has been shown to dramatically improve the cost and effectiveness of the surface coatings of carbide cutting tools." This innovation promises to enhance the machining productivity for manufacturers who are continually looking for ways to produce more at lower cost.
- NanoMech's patented NanoSprayTM coating process involves physical spray of pre-synthesized materials, such as nanoparticles, under the influence of an electric field. Nanoparticles are the smallest scale materials currently available to scientists for industrial and biomedical applications. They range in size from about 1/1,000th to 1/10,000th the width of a human hair. In the NanoSprayTM process, the electric field allows deposition of the nanoparticles on the surface to form a uniform coating of desired thickness on simple or complex, three-dimensional geometries. "We are very proud of this award, which recognizes the superior research and development that is ongoing at the University of Arkansas and the significant value provided by NanoMech's commercialization of this unique technology" says Ajay P. Malshe, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of NanoMech. In addition to cutting tools and other wear applications, the company is pursuing other important spin-off applications of the technology, including lubricating, anti-corrosion, biocidal and biocompatible coatings, as well as thin films for use in microelectronics applications.
- The versatility of NanoMech's technology is simultaneously promising and difficult to commercialize because each application requires the formulation and testing of specific coatings. The challenges surrounding the commercialization of nanotech-based products were part of the focus of the roundtable discussion, held August 7th of 2007 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. This roundtable, convened by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration (www.technology.gov), is the second of three meetings nationwide and allows for the collaboration of the founders of nanotechnology companies, venture capitalists, state and local development agencies and other experts in promoting the development of nanotechnology-based companies. Dr. Ajay P. Malshe, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of NanoMech, said that the fact that a wide range of experts have been meeting to discuss the barriers to nanotechnology commercialization is extremely timely and benefits from the leadership provided by the Department of Commerce and Senator Pryor, "I am very honored that the NanoMech team was chosen to receive this distingusihed Recognition of Excellence in Innovation. Organization of this key event in Arkansas and recognition that NanoMech is founded in this state is a clear sign of increasing federal and private support for commercialization of such world class nanotech innovations. Investment in nanotech and its successful fruition will result in an important economic engine for the state and the country at large." This is the third year in which NanoMech has received national or international recognition. NanoMech received the 2005 Excellence in Technology award from Frost & Sullivan and the 2006 Micro/Nano Competition award from R&D Magazine. NanoMech's technological innovations has been developed, in part, using grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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