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Dr. Ganesh Skandan talks to AZoM about advanced protective coatings and the NANOMYTE® range at NEI Corporation.
KW: Can you give a brief history of NEI Corporation?
GS: NEI Corporation was founded in 1997 with a mission to scale-up and commercialize a new nanoparticle production technology. Over the years, the company has transformed itself into an application driven enterprise performing R&D, manufacturing, and marketing diverse advanced materials.
Currently, NEI offers both products and product development services to customers worldwide. Materials testing and characterization services are offered through the Nanotech Analytics division.
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Heat Exchanger Tubing, NEI Corporation
KW: What are the typical types of products that NEI Corp manufactures?
GS: NEI’s products fall into three broad categories: Advanced Protective Coatings, Batteries, and Environmental Materials. We look for opportunities where there is a gap in the performance of currently available materials and what a specific application needs. We then develop a solution that meets those performance requirements.
KW: Which Industries does NEI Corp operate within?
GS: NEI’s products and technologies address markets in the Energy and Environmental sectors. Within these broad categories, the products target specific applications. For the most part, we are agnostic to the specific industry. Our focus is to deliver a product that meets the functional performance requirements for the application, and offer the product at a price that the application can sustain.
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Self-Healing Before & After, NEI Corporation
KW: Can you give a brief overview of your specialty NANOMYTE® line of advanced protective coatings?
GS: The NANOMYTE® line of advanced protective coatings is used either directly on the substrate or as a top coat on a painted or molded surface. In each case, the coating offers a unique functionality that conventional paints and coatings do not offer.
KW: What are the unique capabilities of the NANOMYTE® line?
GS: Each NANOMYTE® coating offers a unique property not present in commonly available coatings. For example, our pretreatment for lightweight metals, NANOMYTE® PT-60, has a self-healing function that mimics chromate-based coatings.
Of course, chromate coatings have been phased out and the market is in need of an equivalent alternative. Similarly, our SR-100EC top coat provides an easy to clean capability in addition to other desirable characteristics, such as transparency and hardness. Also, the majority of NEI’s coatings are relatively thin, around 2 – 5 microns.
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Coatings in action, NEI Corporation.
KW: Which industries can benefit from NANOMYTE® coatings?
GS: There are a large number of applications for our NANOMYTE® pretreatments and top coats in the automotive, aerospace, and industrial sectors of the market. Additionally, our coatings are finding use in the grid infrastructure, primarily to mitigate corrosion and moisture ingress. Many of the NANOMYTE coatings are also finding use in diverse industries, such as agriculture and electronics & wireless equipment.
KW: Are there any future developments in place for the NANOMYTE® line, or coatings at NEI in general?
GS: Indeed, we are constantly developing new coatings with functionalities that applications require. Efforts are underway to incorporate multiple functionalities in one coating, for example, moisture barrier properties combined with a high degree of hydrophobicity.
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Coatings in action, NEI Corporation.
KW: Where can we find out more information about NANOMYTE® coatings at NEI Corp?
GS: Information about our NANOMYTE® coatings can be found on our website at: http://neicorporation.com/products/coatings/
Additionally, we can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at +1 (732) 868-3141.
About Dr. Ganesh Skandan
Dr. Ganesh Skandan earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey. Shortly after his graduate work, he co-founded NEI Corporation in 1997 and has been the CEO for the past eight years.
In 2003, Dr. Skandan was recognized as an outstanding alumnus of the Graduate School at Rutgers University at its 50th anniversary. In 2011, Rutgers University recognized his accomplishments again with a Distinguished Alumni award for Distinction in the Physical Sciences. Dr. Skandan currently holds twelve patents.