Technology spotlight Advances in technology

NEWS

TECHNOLOGYSPOTLIGHT

Advances in technology across industry

Improving drug delivery

Nanocapsules and other containers can transport drugs through a patient’s body directly to the origin of the disease and release them there in a controlled manner. This method is known in science as drug delivery. Chemistry professor Ann-Christin Pöppler from JuliusMaximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, is convinced that this method still has great development potential. She analyzes the molecular capsules that enclose drugs like a container and transport them to the site of action.

Professor Poppler is mainly investigating polymeric micelles. These consist of many chains of molecules, which assemble into spherical structures. When they come into contact with fat-soluble substances, they arrange themselves on their surface and at the end surround them like a coat of hair. This forms a container with a “water-loving” outer shell and a “fat-loving” core. But research has shown that if increasing amounts of active ingredients are packed into the polymeric micelles, their dissolution suffers – the release of the active ingredients then becomes increasingly difficult.

The Würzburg research team found the reason for the decreasing solubility through a set of different experiments: As the container is loaded more and more, the active substances no longer settle exclusively in the core but also on the container surface. There they can almost glue the individual micelle hairs together. These molecular interactions reduce the solubility of the entire structure.

Next, the team hopes to find out whether the dissolution of the container can be improved by structural changes to the micelles. One of the goals of drug delivery is to ensure that a container absorbs as much active substance as possible and dissolves as well as possible in the body. For more information, visit: https://go.uniwue. de/polymicelles

Composites Evolution launches a range of natural fibre prepregs for motorsportt

To reduce environmental impact, there is increasing interest across several motorsport series in the use of natural fibre composites for parts such as aerodynamic devices and doors. GT4 has been leading the way with recent models from the likes of Porsche and Toyota featuring natural-fibre body parts.

Composites Evolution has brought together its extensive expertise in high-performance flax reinforcements with its Evopreg range of epoxy prepregs to offer motorsport customers a proven and flexible range of material and design options. The new flax-epoxy prepreg products include a lightweight woven surface ply (100 g/m², 2x2 twill), a medium weight woven ply (300 g/m², 2x2 twill) and a 150 g/ m² unidirectional ply.

Using materials supplied by Composites Evolution, KW Special Projects applied their expertise in component manufacturing to produce the GT rear wing component . To demonstrate the use of flax prepregs alongside other high-performance materials, half the wing has been produced in flax-epoxy and half in carbon-epoxy.

Brendon Weager, Composites Evolution’s Technical Director, commented “No other prepreg supplier has the depth of flax knowledge that resides within Composites Evolution. We’re ideally positioned to help motorsport customers introduce natural fibre materials into their cars and bikes.”

Visit: www.compositesevolution.com

Photo courtesy of KW Special Projects Ltd.

Versarien pioneers robust graphene-enhanced polymers for large-scale industrial structures

Versarien plc, the advanced materials engineering group, has teamed up with several major global collaboration partners to commercially develop large-scale industrial deployment of high-purity, lowdefect graphene materials. Most recently, Versarien supplied its proprietary few-layer graphene nanoplatelets to a leading fully integrated infrastructure firm to develop a structure that will serve the UK’s transport infrastructure. In this instance, Versarien’s proprietary graphene materials have enabled a structure to be manufactured that is significantly stronger than similar assemblies using conventional polymers, and with better thermal stability.

Versarien produces a range of graphene powders and inks for different applications and markets, which can be blended with a vast array of polymers and other materials. The company’s Polygrene range can be used in industrial extrusion, moulding and 3D printing processes. The high graphene purity and low defect ratio enable graphene’s unique properties to be fully leveraged, such as improvements to mechanical strength, stability and resistance, to decomposition at high temperatures and excellent conductive properties for heat and electrical current. Secondary characteristics include resistance to chemicals and extremely low gas permeability.

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, commented: “Graphene can address so many complex structural engineering challenges that were once considered impossible to solve. Greater mechanical strength and thermal dynamics are just a couple of the benefits offered by our Polygrene solution. We plan to reveal details of new major collaboration projects from all over the world in the coming months.” Visit: www.versarien.com