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MicroTau Pty Ltd
An Australian start-up, MicroTau, has been offered $200,000 with follow on potential of up to $1 million from the Australian Government to commercialize its innovative contactless microfabrication technology being developed with the US Air Force Research Laboratory. MicroTau-printed “shark-skin” surfaces have already demonstrated drag reduction that can reduce aircraft fuel consumption by two per cent or more. Potential savings could run to hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2, annually. The MicroTau technology provides a practical, low cost method of printing microstructures out of UV curable coatings onto surfaces, producing not only drag-reducing properties but potentially anti-fouling, self-cleaning and anti-bacterial properties as well. Potential applications include: improving the efficiency or speed of trains, trucks, cars and other vehicles; increasing energy output of wind turbines; biocide-free antifouling coatings for marine vessels; antibacterial surfaces in hospitals and aircraft tray tables; self-cleaning paints and microfluidic devices.
Lumii Inc.
Lumii’s Inc’s mission is to deliver captivating hologram-like imagery using standard presses, media and inks for security and brand protection. This is achieved by applying sophisticated tera-scale computation and Lumii’s patented Light Field Engine to model billions to trillions of light rays as they interact with high-resolution printed material. The Lumii process disrupts many of the conventions associated with traditional security devices. In their search for a press technology that can provide best-in-class contrast, detail, and alignment at the print volumes and price points customers demand, they have discovered one clear technology choice: UV offset web presses. According to Lumii, it’s clear that the future of holographic printing relies on the precision of UV process technology.
LiTeProducts LLC
By combining multi wavelengths of UV LEDs with Visible LEDs and then multi-tasking them, LiTeProducts creates multi functionality solutions with broader appeal to a wider range of users. Practical examples of combining wavelengths that produce both germicidal and curing functionality include potential products like: Food utensil or Leafy Green Sanitation that also includes a UV curable seal of packaging to lock in freshness benefits; and the Sanitation of water, air, or the surface of object with an added UV printed verification that communicates that sanitation has indeed occurred.
DENTSPLY Sirona
DENTSPLY Sirona has patented highly effective photopolymerizable antimicrobial/antibacterial resins or ABR. Such ABR resins could be readily formulated in a variety of radiation-cure compositions, such as composites, adhesives, sealants, coatings to provide high performance non-leaching active surface to effectively kill a wide range bacterium with very low loading dose in the compositions without adverse impact on mechanical integrity and to inhibit the formation of such bacteria-based biofilms. Furthermore, it could lead to dramatically ease biofilm removal. This innovation promises to find wide range applications in biomedical and other industries; and has recently been published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
Eastern Michigan “Collegiate Emerging Technology Award.”
“’Green’ UV-LED Curable Nail Gel Polishes from Bio-Renewable Materials,” are novel polymers that have been synthesized from bio-renewable materials such as plant oils (such as soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil), itaconic acid, gum rosin, and bio-based succinic acid. These bio-based polymers have been suitably functionalized with unsaturated functional groups such that they can polymerize and form a crosslinked network when exposed to UV-LEDs. From Eastern Michigan’s research, bio-based nail products have not been sufficiently explored. And considering the increasing consumption of nail polishes; and the need to keep pace with the bio-based regulations and consumer preferences, they are meeting an unmet opportunity to develop novel sustainable nail gel polishes with considerable bio-renewable content.