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Technical Expertise
Helping our customers solve problems is what we do best. Delivering a winning solution requires that we leverage and reinforce our core technical competencies.
These five competencies—particle, surface, analytical, process and application—are all critical to the development and delivery of performance materials. Each competency is its own discipline and works to improve technology, make connections and build a community of practice.
Competencies
Particle
Our customers rely on our leadership in carbon and metal oxide materials. Accordingly, we strive to be a world class repository of knowledge in nanoparticle technology.
This competency encompasses new particle concepts, synthesis, processing and scale-up, with a strong focus on connecting particle properties to market-driven problems. Our particles are tailor-made to suit the needs of our customers. To accomplish these unique particle designs, we use specially chosen feedstock and sophisticated processes to control particle composition, size, morphology, surface area, porosity, surface energy and chemical functionality. Our leadership in particle technology extends both to strong relationships with academic laboratories across the globe and a prominent position in the regulatory ecosystem for nanomaterials.
Surface
Most of our materials are incorporated into different matrices, such as elastomers, plastics and inks, to deliver functionality.
We excel at engineering how the particle surfaces interact with these matrices, including surface modification through functionalization, chemical treatment and physical processing, which contributes to the differentiation of our products. A surprisingly large number of functions are controlled by surface properties.
Recognizing this, our surface competency research and development team maintains and is continually adding to our toolbox of surface modification techniques, allowing us to improve properties such as ease and stability of dispersion, rheology control, aqueous versus organic solvent compatibility, electrical and thermal conductivity, surface energy and control, and mechanical strength.
Analytical
Understanding the composition and architecture of particulate materials is essential to optimizing the performance of our products in applications.
We maintain a significant analytical infrastructure to support our R&D activities and ensure our manufacturing processes are consistently delivering the highest quality materials. We use our industry-leading expertise in microscopy, spectroscopy, thermal analysis, inorganic and organic analysis, polymer analysis, and particle and surface characterization to analyze raw materials, intermediates and finished products. In addition, our customers often leverage our capabilities to help solve their analytical challenges.
Process
As a global specialty materials company, we depend upon our manufacturing processes to deliver high quality products.
Fortunately, our customers benefit from our more than 130-year history of process excellence and manufacturing experience. Our process competency team is committed to creating and improving reliable processes that are safe and that we are proud to own.
Applications
Serving our customers means providing differentiated particles and understanding how they function in demanding and often complex end-use applications.
Our applications competency team works closely with customers to optimize particle performance in a diverse range of matrices and formulations. Our applications development scientists and engineers drive our understanding of masterbatches, composites, coatings, inks, paints, films and devices, so we can deliver high-performing solutions.
In order to maximize the effectiveness and functionality of our particles in customer applications, we work with each customer to understand their application, the functionality they require, as well as the system formulation. With this knowledge, we can tailor our particles to meet the needs of the application.
