From Tennis Ace to Defense Apps

Applied Nanotech Holdings has had great success incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNT) into sporting goods applications. Now, it is trying to broaden its focus to create successful implementations for the defense market via a $25,000 purchase order from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL).

Though defense materials are the focus now, the company initially honed the technology in a tennis racket for an unnamed Japanese manufacturer. “We were initially wondering how we could further lighten the CFRP racket but keep the same mechanical properties,” says Applied Nanotech Holding CEO Zvi Yaniv. “Normally, to make a racket you need to use a certain quantity of carbon fiber and epoxy in order to give certain strength. However, if you can add a percentage of nanotubes, it will increase the mechanical properties by up to 40 percent and lower the quantity of carbon fiber material.”

The ERDC-CERL ordered test samples of Applied’s CNT enhanced fiber reinforced polymer composites for development of a lighter and thinner ballistic resistant panels. A successful implementation of the CNTs would lead to lower material and transportation costs and decreased burden on building framing, while still maintaining or improving ballistic protection. Ballistic resistant panels are used in such applications as security walls, panic rooms, bullet resistant doors, and as a blast protection barriers for both military and civilian applications.

Yaniv says this new opportunity came about as a result of another collaborative project focused on fighting airborne biological and chemical contaminants. “Because the unit of the Army we are talking with is related to construction and building centers, they were interested to see how it could be incorporated into buildings from chemical biological threats,” he explains.

While Yaniv states that it is too early to determine exactly what application differences will occur with defense applications, there is already one big distinction. “In tennis rackets, you look for flexural strength, whereas you look for impact strength in ballistic applications,” he says. The company expects to have a better idea of specific differences after March 2010.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Infrastructure, Military, Sports/Rec. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.