Designing new composite materials from the nano-scale up

Dr Alexander Fergusson; alex@factechnology.com; a.fergusson@imperial.ac.uk

http://factechnology.comhttp://imperial.ac.uk

UK market for composite materials

1https://compositesuk.co.uk/system/files/documents/Strategy%20final%20version.pdf

Board of Directors

Dr Alexander Fergusson

• CEO of FAC Technology• Lecturer in Composite

Materials at Imperial College

Brian McGowan

• Chairman of FAC Technology• Built his first business,

Williams Holdings, into a FTSE100 company

2

Alex Newman

• Former Strategy Consultant• Career focus on technology

commercialization and market entry strategy

Steve Cloran

• CEO of Trenchard Aviation, a commercial airline MRO and OEM

• Serial Entrepeneur

Highly damage resistant composites

• We offer means to produce nanocomposite materials at an industrial scale

• We license our IP to strategic partners for use in their markets

• We set up production lines with contract manufacturing partners; enables rapid scale up

• First technology licensee is Nordisk Aviation• AKE containers made with our materials are an

aerospace certified product and in service with airlines

3

An AKE container with a FACT base panel

4

Facesheet

Carbon fibre skins made with damage resistant resin.

Core

Composite foam capable of withstanding impacts from forklifts

Assembly

Designed to integrate with standard aluminium edge rails

Weight

50% lighter than current metal panels

A FACT pallet undergoing operational ground tests.

Patent

Patented design and manufacturing process patents

Aerospace pallet leasing; a bond like return profile from a fuel saving product?

Thermal Interface Materials, ‘TIMs’

• Electrically insulating but thermally conductive adhesives are often called TIMs.

• Improved thermal conductivity in TIMs can lead to increased product life and performance

• We have developed TIMs that are over ten times more thermally conductive than market leading materials.

• This enables, for example, ultrafast charging of EV batteries (licensee; Allison Transmission).

• Some of our TIMs behave mechanically like aerospace structural adhesives

5

3M – FACT TIM

Fire resistant structural foams

• Current structural foams; light, strong and fire resistant? No, pick two.

• We have developed composite foams for use in airline cabin flooring; lighter than current floor panels

• Electrification of vehicles will create a market for packaging foams specifically developed for storage and transport of lithium cells

Weight

Stiffness

Strength

1

1

1

~1

73.5

~1

19

6.4

T 2T 3TThickness

Solid Sandwich 1 Sandwich 2