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Important terms and their meanings

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Materials added in small quantities to products to obtain or to improve their existing properties. Additives have a positive influence on the production process, storage and subsequent processing.

Cluster made of small particles linked to each other. The type of agglomeration is determined on the basis of the strength of the bond between particles. The so called soft agglomerates are generated primarily by the chemical affinity and reduce the otherwise high surface energy (e.g. Van der Waal’s forces) particularly in the case of small particles. In the case of hard agglomerates however, the particles are seen to have additional bonding forces such as ceramic bonds formed by sintering.

Nanopowders essentially exhibit agglomeration owing to their high specific surface. The agglomerates thus formed are the so-called soft agglomerates.

As a result of their high specific surfaces the nanopowders produced by IBU-tec have soft agglomerates. As a result of very high processing temperatures generated by the sintering processes, no hard agglomerates are formed.

Preventing adherence to the surface.

A property that prevents bacterial and fungal growth.

Application in products including integration of nanoformulations in the customers' applications.

Chemical raw materials that are modified as desired using processes of chemical nanotechnology.

The sub-domain of nanotechnology dealing with production and subsequent processing of nanomaterials using chemical reactions.

Raw materials having typical properties are combined together using chemical processes to produce nanomaterials with the desired properties. Typical chemical processes are either precipitation reactions or sol-gel processes.

Subsequent processing of nanomaterials is essentially understood as the modification of nanomaterials. This includes modification of the surface by coating or the conversion of nanomaterials into intermediate products or applications.

IBU-tec uses chemical processes to produce suitable precursors for its thermal processes or to modify the nanopowder already produced.

 

A typical application of barrier layers is aimed at preventing the penetration of liquid or gaseous media or specific optical wavelengths to the substrate.

A mixture of at least two materials that are insoluble or partly soluble in one another or cannot be linked chemically.

Dispersions play an important role In the field of nanotechnology as intermediate products used in liquid applications because the agglomerates do not allow their direct usage in liquid applications. Accordingly the nanomaterials are converted into agglomerate-free stable dispersions that can be used directly in applications. The agglomeration is destroyed by shear forces and at the same time the surface is modified using additives to prevent any further agglomeration.

On the one hand IBU-tec uses dispersions as a mixture of raw materials for its production processes while on the other hand it produces agglomerate-free stable suspensions using its nanopowders.

Hybrid composites exclusively use organic and inorganic compounds as raw materials in their chemical processes.

Hygroscopic

Water-repellent.

Nanoformulations and their integration in customized products and processes.

Greek nános, meaning "dwarf".

Devices and processes used in the field of nanoanalysis show and analyse the world of nanotechnology.

Nanocomponents / Nanodevices are the smallest components that are typically used in the semiconductor industry.

Mixtures of two materials that are insoluble or only partly soluble in one another or cannot be linked chemically (also see dispersions) and in this particular case at least one of the components comprises nanoscale particles. Typically, the solid nanoparticles are dispersed and stabilised in liquid media.

The nanocomposites produced are further processed using other additives and processing aids to form material systems designed to suit the applications.

Nanomaterials or nanoparticles have large surfaces in relation to their volumes. This means that they have far more atoms on the surface than those in the case of larger bodies. This is why they have a much better physical and chemical interaction with their surroundings.

Nanoparticles, nanolayers and nanopowders thus endow materials with entirely new application potential.

Even today nanomaterials play an important role. Some applications are commercially available and are used in commercial products, while others are important model systems for research in physico-chemical and material sciences. Likewise, nanoelectronics have become prominent. It is not uniformly classified under nanotechnology in scientific and research policies.

 

A nanometre is one billionth of a meter (10-9 m) and approximately 50,000 times finer than an average human hair.

Particles having a size of less than 100 nanometre. Nanoparticles represent compounds consisting of anything from a few atoms or molecules to a few thousand atoms or molecules. The name derives from its size, which typically measures a few nanometres (10-9 Meter or one billionth of a meter)

The exclusive production process using pulsation reactor technology devised by IBU-tec is able to produce nanoparticles of various chemical compositions with variable particle sizes on an industrial scale.

 

Nanopowders comprise nanoscale particles with average particle size defined to be less than 100 nm.

Today nanotechnology refers to research in cluster physics and surface physics, surface chemistry, semiconductor physics, in the field of chemistry and to a lesser extent in sub-domains of mechanical engineering and food technology (Nanofood). The generic term is based on the research in various fields with the order of magnitude ranging from a single atom to a pattern size of 100 nanometre (nm). A nanometre is equal to a billionth of a metre (10-9 m). This order of magnitude refers to a range, in which surface properties of the materials play a more important role than their bulk properties and effects of quantum physics become increasingly important.

Oleophilic

Oil-repellent.

Permeation is known to be the process in which a material (a permeate) permeates or penetrates a solid body.

Chemical compounds comprising straight-chained molecules or branched molecules, made of the same or similar units.

The adjective polymer therefore means: made out of several identical components. Most of the plastics are polymeric materials, in which carbon plays a major role in catenation.

 

Raw materials used for producing specific materials. For example, the raw materials from which nanomaterials are produced using nanotechnology.

The sol-gel process is a synthesis of gels on the basis of a sol.

The products of the process are very fine powders, monolithic ceramics and glasses, ceramic fibres, inorganic membranes, thin layers and aerogels. Depending on the details of the process, each of these products have a broad spectrum of several and mostly special properties, which is why the sol-gel process plays an important role in the research for materials.

The raw materials used in sols are also described as precursors and these are generally alkoxides of metals. The sol-gel process can be simplified into two smaller processes / reactions, namely hydrolysis and condensation.

Typical sol-gel processes are those in which hydrolysis and condensation reactions occur simultaneously. Solid particles with a size of a few nanometres are formed and these are dispersed as colloids in the dispersion medium. These can be linked and condensed to form a gel.