Zyvex Performance Materials, Inc.
(09/07/08) About a year ago, Zyvex Performance Materials, Inc. relocated from Dallas, Texas to Columbus, Ohio. Zyvex needed not only a facility from which to operate, but also the supply chain to support their carbon nanotube (CNT) business. Working with PolymerOhio and the Center for Multifunctional Polymer Nanomaterials and Devices (CMPND), Zyvex moved through their entire business integration process, found a suitable facility, relocated into the Columbus area, began applying for Ohio Department of Development funding, and received sound advice on scaling up one of their key components for their high performance products: Arovex, Epovex and Engineered Solutions.
CNTs are becoming extremely valuable for enhancing the physical properties of composite materials, thus exceeding the characteristics of traditional, commonly used materials. CNTs have a tensile strength that is typically eight times that of stainless steel and their thermal conductivity is five times that of copper. CNTs can be included in a polymer matrix, and by their inclusion, CNTs improve the host material’s properties by orders of magnitude, well above the performance expected from such traditional fillers as carbon black or ultra-fine metal powders. Zyvex technology, when integrated into polymeric composite materials, provides dramatically enhanced thermal, electrical, or mechanical properties.
Lance Criscuolo, Zyvex president, says that with the support of PolymerOhio and CMPND, his company “found supply chain partners, including toll manufacturers. That support made a huge difference in the past several months, helping us scale up our process from 100 pounds to 1000 pounds per batch. .” Now PolymerOhio is helping Zyvex with applications for their next generation of products. “PolymerOhio networking has been helping us shorten our information gathering process, so we can connect with companies where we have mutual needs and potential benefits in common,” he says.
Now, Criscuolo says that that Zyvex “is continuing to use PolymerOhio as a resource for other products coming forward and to help us identify different supply chain partners and marketing support.”