Matteriall

Matteriall, headquartered in “Innovation & Incubation Center KU Leuven”, accredited and funded by the “European Space Agency Business Incubation Programme” is set up to come up with a material portfolio consisting of the most ever superior materials which are feasibly manufacturable and applicable for the applications primarily in the space and aerospace, healthcare and electronics industries. The objective of the Matteriall project is delivering the ultimate theoretical characteristics of the most advanced nano-scaled structures to every macro-scaled structure with minimum attenuation in order to enhance the life quality.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are remarkable objects that look set to revolutionise the technological landscape entirely in the near future. CNTs can have 50 times more mechanical strength than armour steel and 1000 times more current carrying capacity than copper. CNTs are the best heat conducting material ever known and they are chemically very stable like graphite. And above all, they are very light, their density is one sixth of that of steel. Tomorrow’s society will be shaped by CNT applications, just as silicon-based or plastic technologies dominate the society today.

However, today, delivering these theorotical nano-scaled material characteristics of CNTs to a macro-scaled level is the bottleneck of the current state of the nanotechnology. The objective of Matteriall is to develop a chemical spinning technique which will eventually enable to bring these extraordinary characteristics in real life applications. Matteriall’s unique manufacturing technology will deliver fibers, yarns and films that are made of essentially pure CNTs with superior properties. The outcome and first go-to-market product of the pilot production process will be the lightweight, strong, electrically and thermally conductive, flexible, corrosion resistant and biocompatible Carbon Nanotube Fibers/Yarns/Films.