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September 13th, 2004

QinetiQ announces Tesima branding for its bulk nanomaterials

Abstract:
With the successful production of its 30th nanomaterial product - silver nanopowder - and the full validation of the manufacturing process, QinetiQ Nanomaterials Ltd (QNL) will now market its nano production process and all the resulting materials under the TesimaTM brand.

Story:

QinetiQ announces Tesima branding for its bulk nanomaterials products and production process

September 13, 2004

With the successful production of its 30th nanomaterial product - silver nanopowder - and the full validation of the manufacturing process, QinetiQ Nanomaterials Ltd (QNL) will now market its nano production process and all the resulting materials under the Tesima(TM) brand.

“Branding reinforces our ownership of the materials and the validation of the process. It also enables our customers and others to describe the process and the many products it can produce,” explained Dr Paul Reip, QNL’s Managing Director.

The QNL process allows the continuous gas phase production of bulk nanopowders and the four main product categories derived from it will be branded Tesima(TM) to reflect the unique flexibility of the system and the wide range of products it can produce.

Tesimox(TM) is a family of oxides with sizes ranging from 20 to 100nm and includes ZnO, ZrO2, CuO, Cu2O, SnO2, TiO2, CeO2, Al2O3. Tesimet(TM) comprises pure metals and alloys such as Al, Cu, Ag, to which passivation layers can also be applied during manufacture. Tesimide(TM) consists of metal carbides and nitrides including the recent successful manufacture of 60nm WC. Finally Tesimorph(TM) is QNL’s special product range of materials including mixed oxides, layered materials, doped materials such as yttria stabilised zirconia and non stoichiometric materials such as ZnO1-x.

Farnborough based QNL is a wholly owned subsidiary of QinetiQ Group, Europe’s largest research and technology organisation and provides customers with complete nanomaterials solutions. It offers unrivalled capability that help customers develop, improve and deliver products in diverse markets from automotive to pharmaceutical and opto-electronics to energy.

QNL manufactures a wide range of metal, oxide, carbide and nitride nanopowders in the 20nm to 100nm particle size range. Products include aluminium for energetics applications, cuprous oxide for anti-fungal applications, tungsten carbide for cermets, zinc oxide for UV protection and cerium oxide for catalysts. The latest product is silver nanopowder - a material with numerous applications, parrticularly valued for its anti-microbial properties. Powders are manufactured dry but can be supplied either dry or incorporated into other media, such as liquids or polymers.

The Tesima process is continuous, allowing extended operation and is scaleable so that quantities from kilogrammes to tonnes are possible. By co-feeding two or more materials and/or carefully controlling the gas mix within the system, complex and structured Tesimorph materials can be produced. These include nanopowders consisting of doped, alloyed, mixed oxide, non-stoichiometric and layered (core/shell) particles. Nanopowder production at QNL centres on bespoke nanopowders for specific customer applications.