Nano-carbon materials to achieve better performances faster

It is known that the heart of our research and development capabilities is in Prysmian Group HQ, Milan. This is why the first meeting of the 6th edition of the Nano-Carbon Enhanced Material Consortium (NCEM) will take place in our HQ on 8th and 9th March 2018.

The consortium is organized and managed by The Cambridge Nanomaterials Technology Ltd (CNT Ltd), which is a nanomaterials innovation management and nanotechnology consulting company. CNT Ltd is specialized in carbon nanomaterials R&D consulting and collaborative R&D project management.

The NCEM consortium has been run successfully for the last five years. Besides Prysmian Group, which is one of the newest member, the NCEM-5 has seen the participation of other member such as: Airbus Group (UK), RTE (France), GE Global Research (USA), Bose Corporation (USA), International Copper Association (USA) and the newest members since beginning of 2017 are Rolls Royce (UK), Whirlpool Corporation (USA), ArcelorMittal (Spain), NISSAN (UK-Russia), Tecnalia (Spain), Johnson Matthey Plc. (UK)

The first appointment of the 6th edition is aimed at facilitating the commercial uptake of technologies based on nano-carbon materials, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, and influence where this rapidly evolving field goes and how fast. Furthermore, the consortium is a great opportunity to provide an exciting panel that facilitates discussions vehicles action regarding collaborative R&D, supply chain building, H&S, regulatory and other issues related to commercialization of carbon nanomaterials.

This initiative is in line with the R&D strategy to study these materials, already confirmed with JDA Prysmian has signed with Nanocomp Technologies for the development of CNT based material for cables applications.

According to Marcelo Andrade, Prysmian Group SVP Research & Development “Here we are developing products using materials and technologies that do not have a market yet, but for which we believe a market will exist in five or ten years. We still do not know precisely the possible use of these materials, we are studying them. They might be useful as a barrier against liquids entering the cables, against fire or even to replace conductors, but we have to understand how much it costs to achieve these performances”

“Talking about carbon nanotubes, we are just starting to study these new materials”, added Mr. Andrade. Including one he jokingly calls ‘the chili pepper’ – a truly innovative core that will be added to the common polypropylene base.”

These two days will be a unique opportunity to get closer to the future.