ALD NanoSolutions Prepares particle coating CVR for Factory Installation

Here is some ALD news for Boulder Colorado just before the Holiday Season (teaken from their excellent e-mail News letter) - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the ALD experts in Boulder and elsewhere! 

• ALD NanoSolutions Prepares CVR for Factory Installation
• ALD Nano’s Coated Materials were on the International Space StationInternational
• Organization for Standardization (ISO) Compliance for ALD-Coated Commercial Powders 

As reported in a previous edition of the ALD NanoSolutions Enews (see ALD Nano Enews: Vol. 2, Issue 3), the company announced commercial-scale validation of its continuous ALD reactor system equipment for particles. 

ALD NanoSolutions Prepares CVR for Factory Installation

As reported in a previous edition of the ALD NanoSolutions Enews (see ALD Nano Enews: Vol. 2, Issue 3), the company announced commercial-scale validation of its continuous ALD reactor system equipment for particles. The key aspects of that article are in italics below:

The scientific, process development and engineering teams at ALD Nano have spent considerable resources over the past few years rapidly developing this first-of-its-kind technology from research scale, bench-top to the current commercial-scale systems. A continuous vibrating reactor, or CVR, provides ALD coating capacity of more than three tons per day and 1,200 tons per year of particle materials. These techniques gained from equipment development open up new pathways for ALD Nano's growth. The CVR is a spatial ALD reactor system and can also be utilized for MLD techniques, run at atmospheric or pressurized conditions, and fitted with various features such as plasma.

The company is scheduled to install the first of its CVR reactor systems, second-generation design, in a commercial advanced materials coating production facility in the US in Q1 2018. An important milestone to compliment this type of state-of-the-art progress at the ALD Nano facility in Broomfield, Colorado. Additional CVR reactor systems are to be installed in other commercial materials production facilities over the next few years. Let us know if you have an ALD coating need for advanced materials that requires this level of scale.

Besides that ALD NanoSolutions report that:

ALD Nano’s Coated Materials were on the International Space Station

ALD Nano made specialty oxide coated materials that were first tested on the ground and then at the International Space Station (ISS). This project was developed in partnership with NASA to demonstrate protection of polymers in space that are subject to hyperthermal oxygen atoms, UV and VUV photons and ions. Initially, the materials were tested in space simulation systems on the ground to show that inorganic films grown by ALD can protect polymers. Various oxide films were shown to prevent oxygen atom corrosion. The films were designed to explore the mechanisms of polymer degradation by atomic oxygen and VUV radiation and were examined for conditions under which the films might crack from different thermal expansion coefficients. This work also demonstrated novel multilayer films that display increased flexibility. Finally, the durability of the self-healing polymers were observed. All of these conditions were then tested on the ISS to confirm the excellent laboratory results on the ground, and with great results. The primary application for these materials will be for use in the aerospace industry. 

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Compliance for ALD-Coated Commercial Powders

ALD NanoSolutions achieved ISO compliance for ALD-coated commercial powders in December, 2017. This ISO compliance program is part of the company’s effort to create a robust quality management system culture and expects to receive ISO certification in the next few years. The first set of advanced materials being coated by ALD Nano under ISO compliance is for one of its Fortune 500 customers and leadership at the company expects to add material coating products under this program as it commercializes additional coated powders for customer materials and its own materials. ISO compliance is no small task and the company brought in expert resources to create the program including extensive training for its team.