Nov. 29, 2006 — NaturalNano Inc., a materials science company, announced the introduction of its Pleximer product line. The company said Pleximer, which NaturalNano plans to offer commercially in fourth quarter 2007, is a turnkey nanocomposite additive enabling stronger, lighter materials for the $40 billion dollar polymer composite industry.

“We believe the advantage of the Pleximer additive is that it will allow composite manufacturers to produce affordable nanocomposites for the first time,” said Cathy Fleischer, president and CTO of NaturalNano, in a prepared statement. “The nanocomposite market segment is estimated to more than double in size in the next four years. However, many manufacturers to date have been unable to produce nanocomposites because of the necessary up-front investment in expensive, specialized equipment and the complex chemistries involved in the process.”

By contrast, she said, Pleximer can be used with standard processes and equipment and provides a stronger, lighter, and more uniform output. The company says the technology can also be utilized with a broader range of polymers, enabling a wide array of applications.

Pleximer additives consist of halloysite clay nanotubes concentrated and mixed with various polymer materials using the company’s proprietary process. NaturalNano has multiple patents issued and pending on its uses of halloysite nanotubes, including coverage for polymers used as composite material.

Plastics manufacturers currently use nanoclay additives to produce stronger, lighter composites but these improvements come at a high cost. The increased costs result from the complex exfoliation process required in separating the clay layers to obtain good dispersion and uniform properties.