Organoclays and Carbon Nanotubes Nanotechnology and Nanocomposites for Flame Retardancy of Polymers

NEW BOOK OF INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS OF NANOCOMPOSITES:

"Industry Guide to Polymer Nanocomposites" edited Dr. Günter Beyer is now published.

A truly practical guide, which aims to cut through the hype and show where these new ‘wonder materials’ will really fit into your industry and products.

The editor has drawn together contributions from academics, materials suppliers, product manufacturers, NASA and the US army, which show how these materials really perform, and where they are already finding uses. Flame retardancy and barrier properties are key benefits.

Performance however is only part of the story. To achieve commercial success new materials must also deliver these properties safely and predictably. Processing is a key issue when investment in new equipment may not be an option. There are questions regarding the health impacts of all nanoscale particles. All these topics and more are covered in the following sections:

• Developments in Commercial Polymer Nanocomposite Materials

• Working with Polymer Nanocomposite Materials

• Unique Properties of Polymer Nanocomposites

• Polymer Nanocomposites in Demanding Industrial Applications

The ISBN is as follows: 978-1-906479-04-6

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I invite you to join my discussion group (mailing list) on flame retardancy of polymers,flame retardants for polymers
and fire scienes. Within the mailing list you can participate on discussions about nanocomposites, cone calorimeter applications, fire science topics, fire retardancy, flame retardants,toxicology, regulations in Europe and the USA, degradation mechanism, technology of flame retardant compounds, conference announcements and also abstracts of publications

To join my list, please send an email to:

and follow exactly the procedure described within the eamil you will receive !!

Dr. Guenter Beyer received the Jack Spergel Memorial AWARD at the INTERNATIONAL WIRE & CABLE SYMPOSIUM 2003 (IWCS) in Philadelphia/USA for his fundamental research results on organoclays as nanofillers for nanocomposites and their function as a new class of nanostructured flame retardants for polymers (cables, wires, polymer industry).

In november 2004 Dr. Guenter Beyer received the Jack Spergel Memorial Award for the second time (!!). IWCS awarded him for the first worldwide introduction of carbon nanotubes as flame retardants for polymers and their applications for the cable and wire industry.

He also recieved an AWARD by the INTERNATIONAL WIRE & MACHINERY ASSOCIATION (IWMA) during the global exhibition WIRE 2004 in Duesseldorf/Germany in March 2004 for his fundamental research results on fire performance of nanocomposites.

Sine 2004 he is a member of the editorial advisory board of the journals "Journal of Fire Sciences" and "Trends in Applied Sciences Research". He is also mentioned in "Who is Who in Science and Engineering" in Marquist's 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 editions

Within "Journal of Fire Sciences" he published in January 2005 a fundamental review with the title "Flame Retardancy of Nanocomposites - from Research to Technical Products". Here Dr. Beyer describes the benfits and commercialisation of nanocomposites as flame retardants in detail

You can find it at:

J. Fire Sciences, Vol. 23, 2005, No. 1 pp. 75-87

His research interests in polymer sciences are related to the flame retardancy, fire retardancy, fire resistance and fire science of polymers by nanostructured flame retardants in general thus generating nanocomposites based on:

- ORGANOCLAYS

- CARBON NANOTUBES (Multi-walled and Single-walled)

- CARBON NANOFIBRES

- POSS

- LAYERED DOUBLE HYDROXIDES

- FULLERENES

- HALLOYSITES

He has studied for first time worldwide carbon nanotubes as a new class of flame retardants for polymers. One further interest is related to Nano-ATH and Nano-MDH (Nanostructured aluminia trihydrate and nanostructured magnesium dihydroxide).

There is also a strong interest for ATH and MDH (aluminia trihydrate and magnesium dihydroxide) as classical non halogen flame retardants for plastics (polymers). Many countries in Europe but also in China are using extensively such halogen free flame retardant or low smoke zero halogen solutions (FRNH or LSOH).

He is interested in fire risks and fire hazards and the possibility to reduced these by flame retardants.

He has also organized two international conferences on retardancy of polymers in Brussels / Belgium and an international conference on reactive extrusion in Eupen / Belgium.

The cone calorimeter is the most important engineering tool to determine fire hazards and fire risks and here organoclays and other nanofillers demonstrate a lot of technical advantages. For many nanocomposites there is a great advantage for the peak heat release reduction and improved time to ignition.

He has also invented that only organoclay based nanocomposites will not find real technical applications and that only the combination of organoclays with traditional flame retardants like ATH or MDH or brominated flame retardants generates real technical products.

There are also patents from his side on this topic !!!!

Other personal research interests are related to questions on general polymer science and engineering. Additionally he is interested in cosmology.

He is regulary working as a chair man and co-organizer for many international conferences mainly related to flame retardancy of polymers and cable topics (BCC-conferences on Flame Retardancy of Polymers & AMI [Applied Market Informations] cable conferences). He is now working on a book with the title "A technical guide to nanocomposites", which will be published at the beginning of 2009.

Hallo, welcome to my scientific web-side.....

Materials science and fire performance of cables are my professional topics at Kabelwerk Eupen AG

I am a board member of the Lionsclub Eupen/Belgium