Metal Powder Report Volume 71, Number 1 January/February 2016
NEWS
Graphene technology granted patent for wide range of nanoparticles Graphene specialist Haydale reports that it has been granted a European patent for its proprietary HDPlas plasma functionalization process for graphene and other nanoparticulate materials. Haydale already has a granted patent in China and has visibility on the patent application in Australia, which is expected to
proceed to grant within the next few months. The European patent is not limited to graphene or carbon materials but also covers all nanoparticles. While Haydale’s immediate focus remains on commercializing graphene and other nanocarbons, this means that the process can now be extended in
Europe to a wide range of alternative materials, extending future opportunities and applications. The receipt of the patent will also allow Haydale to grant licenses of its plasma process to graphene producers or applications houses throughout Europe. Haydale; www.haydale.com
president, controller & chief accounting officer. Audia has held two divisional CFO positions and has specialized experience in the areas of treasury, tax, investor relations, and corporate strategy. For the last ten years,
Audia has been with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and most recently served as senior vice president of finance for the company’s US$8 billion North America division. Carpenter Technology; www.cartech.com
scale manufacturing have been met, the future of beLife will benefit from a different shareholder structure, Umicore says. The company also suggested that, in view of the China-centered growth of LFP in the coming years, a locally focused organization would be critical to participate in this segment of the market. ‘We are pleased with all the progress we have achieved with our JV-partner of beLife
in recent years,’ said Kurt Vandeputte, vice president of Umicore’s Rechargeable Battery Materials business unit. ‘Umicore has decided to further strengthen its efforts in NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) and high energy LCO (lithium cobaltite) cathode materials. These are the materials of choice in the fast growing automotive segment and portable electronic segment respectively.’ Umicore; www.umicore.com
Carpenter Technology has appointed Damon Audia as senior vice president & chief financial officer (CFO). Tim Lain, who served as acting CFO following Tony R Thene’s appointment as president & CEO in July, will resume his position as vice
Umicore to sell stake in beLife Umicore has recently entered into an agreement to sell all of its shares in beLife to its joint venture partner Prayon. beLife was created by both shareholders in order to demonstrate the industrial scale production of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material and to qualify this material at some of the major global Li-ion battery makers. Although all major project milestones in terms of product performance and industrial pilot
Angstron increases graphene production Angstron Materials Inc, the world’s largest producer of graphene, including powder materials, plans to ramp up its production of graphene from 300 metric tons a year to 1000 metric tons a year in 2016. ‘Inability to source commercial scale quantities of graphene has historically hampered the growth and implementation of graphene-enabled and graphene-enhanced applications such as next-generation energy technologies, composites, water treatment, and corrosion protection,’ said
Dr. Bor Jang, CEO and co-founder of Angstron Materials. ‘Increased production means we can bring market costs down too, giving companies previously priced out of the graphene market access to the material’s unique performance advantages.’ The company also plans to license its graphene production processes to select partners worldwide. ‘By partnering with other companies, we are dramatically increasing the availability
and knowledge base of this new class of material,’ said Ian Fuller, vice president for business development and engineering at Angstron. ‘The applications of graphene are too large and varied for any one company to address alone. By opening fundamental intellectual property to global players, the graphene industrial ecosystem will multiply and allow commercialization to flourish.’ Angstron Materials Inc; www.angstronmaterials.com
was a truly international event with delegates attending from over 40 countries in all regions including the Far East, Africa and the Americas. The appeal of the Euro PM2015 event meant that it attracted over 200 Oral and Poster presentations
and a strong attendance of some 800 participants. The event also included a sell-out exhibition with some 90 booths covering companies from all parts of the PM supply chain. ‘Reims has proved a delightful location for
Euro PM 2015: in pictures The city of Reims noted for its Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims and being the centre of the Champagne region hosted this year’s annual Euro PM Congress & Exhibition, organised and sponsored by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA). It
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NEWS
Carpenter appoints new CFO