Edinburgh based Microsphere Technology have signed a deal with Swedish company Trelleborg Engineered Systems, to develop a revolutionary paint additive aimed at the aerospace industry.
The technology firm, based at the Pentlands Science Park outside Edinburgh, has been developing microsphere-related technology for use in a series of applications. In this case, the technology is aimed at weight reduction of aircraft paints with the subsequent advantage of significant savings in fuel consumption and carbon foot-printing.
Tom Johnston, Microsphere Technology’s Operations Director, said that the deal signed with the help of Glasgow based IP specialists Metis Partners, provided yet another opportunity to push the company’s innovative research towards full commercialisation: “Signing a license deal with a company of the reputation and standing of Trelleborg is an invaluable validation of MTL’s low density pigment technology. The environmental and economic requirement for weight-reducing technologies in the aerospace industry is clearly understood and Trelleborg have seen the value of MTL’s new material in addressing these requirements. We look forward to working closely with Trelleborg to move the technology towards the market as rapidly as possible.”
“MTL is currently pursuing other exciting opportunities in the areas of water treatment, cosmetics and fluid dynamics. Our coated microspheres offer innovative solutions across many sectors and we have been very encouraged by the level of interest we have received to date.”
Microsphere Technology uses hollow glass microspheres as a platform on which to layer other materials such as metals and pigments for specific technology applications. Technology products under development include titania-coated microspheres for use in sunscreen, fluorescent microspheres for use in the flow visualisation design industry, as well as coated spheres for breaking down many organic and inorganic pollutants in wastewater.
About microspheres
Microspheres come in a variety of different forms; solid, porous or hollow, plastic, ceramic or glass, coated or uncoated. They can be man-made or mined from natural sources. Some are recovered from the ash produced in power stations while others can even be harvested from volcanoes.
Microspheres are already present in a wide range of consumer products, including many cosmetics, paints, fillers, insulators, buoyancy aids, sealers, adhesives and plastics. Coating a single large aircraft requires hundreds of kilos of paint, and given that these large aircraft also burn prodigious amounts of fuel, even modest savings in the weight of paint on the surface will have considerable knock on effect on fuel consumption.
0 comments so far
There are no comments for this post yet. Why not be the first by filling out the form below.