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How do we characterise and design powders and slurries thank to our in-house analytical skills?

Listen to Livia MARRA explanations, our Senior Project Manager, in this short video.

 

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” Hello, my name is Livia Marra. I have been working for Baikowski since 2012. I started as a trainee engineer before becoming a R&D project manager.

Baikowski is a 115-year-old company, specialized in high purity alumina and many other oxide powders.
Our headquarters and manufacturing plant are located in Poisy, in France. We have another manufacturing plant in the United States, a joint venture in Japan and several sales offices around the world.
Mathym joined us in 2019 and is specialized in nano-dispersions. This branch of Baikowski enables us to expand our product offering and expand in new markets such as the dental one.

We address several markets including automotive, electronics, medical, watch & jewelry, aerospace & defense and cover applications in ceramics, polishing and batteries.
With so many high-end applications, we have great analytical needs, either to respond to our client demands, or to anticipate their needs. That’s why we are always looking for ways to improve our products characterization. For this purpose, we bought the “Calvet Pro of Setaram” that provides us thermogravimetric and DSC analyses.

As an example, we use it to measure the moisture absorption of our alumina powders. In lithium-ion battery applications, we know we can’t have water as it would interfere with lithium metal. By figuring out the mass uptake by a powder during its exposure to a humidity air flow, we are able to calculate the absorption rate of a powder.

For catalytic applications, the device allows to inform customers on the acidity/basicity of our products, their ability to absorb different type of gas.

We can also assess the mass lost of a powder with blinder system or the decomposition temperature of a special product. In addition, we can carry out a synthesis knowing the transformation temperature of the powder.

As a conclusion, thanks to the flexibility of this device and our analytical skills, we can meet a lot of our customers’ expectations. ”

Learn more on customization

 

zilight® nanomaterial multiple applications

Since zilight® is commercially available, it has been a growing success for our start-up Mathym®. In fact, zilight® meets high-end applications where small particle size is key and do not have real competitive products. Thanks to its high refractive index, this product is mainly targeted at the optics and photonics markets. However, the energy & environment markets should benefit from its properties for demanding and emerging technical applications such as fuel cells. When doped with yttria (YSZ), zilight® can also be a nanomaterial of choice for restorative dental applications.

A customizable nanozirconia product

zilight® is available either doped with yttria (YSZ), CeO2, Gd2O or undoped (ZrO2). Mathym’s know-how lead not only to high-end zirconia nanoparticles, but also to state-of-the-art nano-dispersions. zilight® is available dispersed in various solvents & resins:

• water, alcohol, polyol, acetone, MEK
• select organic solvents
• methacrylate or acrylate-based resin
• silicone oils, customer specific monomer mixture, e.g.: epoxy & fluorene (under development)

The solid content can go up to 70% depending on the dispersion medium.

zilight® exhibits a very high refractive index, ideal in the design of high-end optical materials. Moreover, zilight® preserves a high level of transparency in nanocomposites. It will be your favorite nanofiller for encapsulation materials, improving visible LED device efficiency. It can also act as an additive for advanced ceramics (sintering aid), for display materials (refractive index enhancer), or for coatings (scratch resistance).

Do you want to know more?

See zilight® technical data

 

What is the purpose of ceramic nanofillers?

Nanofillers are nanoparticles of oxides embedded into a matrix of diverse materials (polymers, resins, metal…). The “classical” nanofillers are meant to lower the cost of a material by replacing a higher value material. Furthermore, ceramic nanofillers have the benefit of strengthen the physical properties of the matrix, namely its mechanical, optical or thermal properties.

Moreover, we’ll show here a new type of nanofillers, designed for high performance applications. We are talking about the agglomerate-free nanomaterial dispersions.

Properties of innovative ceramic nanofillers

The agglomerate-free nanomaterials dispersed in various media are bringing outstanding properties:

• High solid loading
• High transmittance
• Low viscosity.

Mathym® and Baikowski® are producing several nanoparticles, which can be used as nanofillers. Here are some examples including high purity alumina (Al2O3) nano-dispersions, ceria (CeO2) and zirconia (ZrO2), as known as zilight® for Mathym:

The nanoparticles are agglomerate-free and delivered as a suspension. They are also known as nano-dispersions. Well dispersed, these nanoparticles used as nanofillers are solving some paradoxes:

• Radio-opacity / High transmittance, especially for the product YbF3 of Mathym, filyxio®
• Low sintering temperature / High density of the ceramic
• High refractive index / Low light scattering

Hence, the upper properties find their applications in several markets such as medical, technical ceramics, electronics, optronics…

Do you want to know more about our innovative ceramic nanofillers?

Discover Mathym® nanodispersions