Kynar is special material that is made from polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). It is a pure and highly non-reactive thermoplastic fluoropolymer. It is used for many different purposes, primarily service applications in wire installation, jacketing, and chemical handling. It has amazing cut-through properties and abrasion resistance, which is combined with high dielectric strength. This dense, high-purity [...]
Four years ago, words like “impossible,” “futuristic,” and “science fiction” filled discussions about nanotechnology. Since the announcement of the US National Nanotechnology Initiative in 2000, though, worldwide investment in nano research and development has raced forward, with $8 billion invested in 2004 alone. That kind of growth has leaders at major companies sitting up and [...]
ano-this and nano-that. These days it seems you need the prefix “nano” for products or applications if you want to be either very trendy or incredibly scary. This “nanotrend” has assumed “mega” proportions: Patent offices around the world are swamped with nanotechnology-related applications; investment advisors compile nanotechnology stock indices and predict a coming boom in [...]
For years now, nanotechnology researchers have been promising us carbon nanotubes as the basis for numerous breakthrough applications such as multifunctional high-strength fibres, coatings and transparent conducting films. Not to mention as a cure for cancer (see“Horseradish, carbon nanotubes and cancer therapy”) and a solution to the energy crisis. However, while the thermal, electrical and [...]
A newly published antibacterial activity mechanism study demonstrates how a single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) kills bacteria by the physical puncture of bacterial membranes. The nanotubes would constantly attack the bacteria in solution, degrading the bacterial cell integrity and causing the cell death. This work elucidates several factors controlling the antibacterial activity of pristine SWCNTs [...]
(Nanowerk Spotlight) Quite a number of serious medical conditions, such as cancer, diabetes and chronic pain, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, and over a long period of time. Researchers have been trying to develop drug delivery techniques with ‘on-off switches’ that would allow controlled [...]