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industry
advanced
manufacturing
One PhD and two MSc students, three
interns and two postdoctoral students will
work on the project and further expansion
is expected. Once more clays have been
collected and modifi ed, the project is
expected to produce patents.
In collaboration with university research
groups, the centre intends using these
lower cost nanoclays to develop the
nanocomposites industry in South Africa
which will create jobs and through products
manufactured in the industry, result in
benefi ts to ordinary people. It intends to
also produce nanocomposite paints and
plastics with unique properties, including
anti-bacterial properties based on silver
nanoparticles.
to make this a reality. Contract negotiations
with one Indian company and a South
African paint producer are the early leads
in commercialisation of the nanoclay
modifi cation process and nanocomposites
production process.
Funding and collaborators
That NCNSM was created in 2007 as
part of the implementation of government’s
National Nanotechnology Strategy. The
centre is hosted by the CSIR as one of
its emerging research areas, and is cofunded
by the Department of Science and
Technology. Collaborators are numerous
and include local and international
universities and scientifi c institutes.
The polymer nanocomposites team
are from left (seated) Charity Maepa,
(standing) Dr Lucky Sikhwivhilu, Thomas
Malwela, Dr Manfred Scriba, Dr
Jayita Bandyopadhyay, Innocentia
Mashilwane (holding the bucky ball),
Dr Sreejarani Pillai, Professor Suprakas
Sinha Ray (NCNSM Manager), and
Ntombi Mathe (seated, right).
An important aspect of the project will
be the licensing of the technologies to
industry. The excellent characterisation
equipment as well as good collaboration
with universities and various local and
international industries will enable the centre
Getting to grips
Nanoclay: A very old mineral derived from weathered volcanic ash, comprising 1
nanometer thin mineral plates stacked together like a deck of playing cards, but just
about 1 million times smaller. Untreated clay powders are used to bleach beer and wine
and to absorb pollutants in water. However, through chemical modifi cation the plates can
be pried and kept apart by specifi c organic molecules called surfactants. When properly
dispersed in a polymer (plastic) matrix they show their great potential.
The newly-acquired, industry-scale extruder at the National Centre for Nano-Structured Materials is a machine which is normally
used for melting a plastic polymer and then converting it to a certain shape through a process called extrusion. The extruder can
be used to mix the polymer with additives or nanostructured materials to prepare a polymer nanocomposite in order to enhance the
properties of the polymer such as fi re retardance performance.
47 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS