NawaStitch’s new process is expected to make carbon fiber composite materials lighter and stronger

According to foreign media New Atlas, Nawa Technologies, a French company, has established a subsidiary in the United States and brought its fast and affordable vertical arrangement carbon nanotube (VACNT) manufacturing process into new applications: making carbon fiber composite materials more durable.

Nawa previously announced that it is producing a new electrode design that can fundamentally improve the chemical performance of existing and future batteries: it can provide up to 3 times energy density, 10 times power density, faster charging speed, and up to 5 times battery life.

The advantage of Nawa company comes from its secret: the ultra fast one-step nanotube growth process. The CEO of the company, Pascal Boulanger, said, "This is the same as the coating process for anti reflective coated glass and photovoltaics. Its price is already very cheap." These nanotubes have extremely strong strength and high conductivity, and have obvious advantages in the electronics field, but Nawa is also considering using them to promote material development.

Nawa has acquired assets of N12 Technologies, a Massachusetts based company. According to Crunchbase's data, since its establishment in 2012, N12 Technologies has raised nearly $33 million with the goal of using VACNT technology to make carbon composite structures lighter and stronger. N12 uses a two-step process authorized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to grow nanotubes, and Nawa will continue this relationship and describe the two manufacturing methods as "complementary.".

Here is the process of how NawaStitch (formerly known as NanoStitch) works. Usually, when using carbon fiber composite materials to manufacture things, carbon fiber reinforced resin sheets are purchased and then laid one by one on top of another. They are bonded together with epoxy resin and alternate with the direction of each layer of carbon fibers to adjust the final product to meet the load it needs to bear.

According to N12 and current Nawa, the adhesive between layers may be a weak point that deteriorates with the bending of the parts. This may lead to delamination or simply damage the strength of the parts. Nawattch used a super strong VACNT array to reinforce the epoxy layer. As a result, Nawattch reported a 100 fold increase in shear strength and a 10 fold increase in impact resistance, with no delamination at all. High speed impact reduced internal damage by 50%. Composite components can be reinforced in this way, and conventional manufacturing processes do not require substantial changes.

Nawa Corporation stated that it has been researching its multifunctional composite material, NawaShell, which not only enhances the mechanical strength of carbon composites, but also allows embedded carbon nanotubes to store electrical energy, potentially creating solar roof panels that store energy directly on the roof itself.

It is currently unclear how successful N12 has been in pushing its high-strength composite material treatment to the market, but as long as the price is appropriate, anything that can make carbon fiber components lighter and stronger will have an opportunity. Nawa is clearly very excited about opening a new US base, which will be located in Dayton, Ohio. The company has established a research cooperation and authorization agreement with the Institute of Research at Dayton University.

Nawa immediately began prototype design and is expected to start mass production in 2021.

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