Haydale and Saint-Gobain collaborate on Boron Nitride

Collaboration agreement with Saint-Gobain

Haydale, the global technology solutions company, is delighted to announce that it has signed a collaboration agreement with Saint-Gobain to facilitate the further development of Saint-Gobain’s Boron Nitride Powder Solutions.

Saint-Gobain Boron Nitride, a business unit within Saint-Gobain Ceramics, is a world leader in advanced hexagonal boron nitride (“hBN”) solutions. hBN, an advanced synthetic ceramic, combines a number of useful physical and chemical properties in one material. Saint-Gobain has over 60 years of expertise in harnessing these properties and transforming hBN into sophisticated solutions to application-specific challenges in, amongst others, the electronics, automotive and metal forming industries.

Saint-Gobain identified the need for advanced surface chemistries to develop the next generation of products. hBN powder is frequently used as a high-performance additive, often chosen to enhance thermal conductivity of polymer composites. However, its inert surface and platelet shape can lead to processing challenges. Haydale’s advanced HDPlas™ functionalisation process has demonstrated that it can alter the surface chemistry of the hBN and enhance the processability and mechanical properties of composite materials while maintaining favourable thermal performance. These improvements would potentially have many applications across Saint-Gobain’s existing product range.

Due to positive customer feedback, Haydale and Saint-Gobain have entered into a formal collaboration agreement to continue the development of Saint-Gobain’s hBN. The agreement will continue for two years and may be extended for an additional year thereafter.

Commenting on the new agreement, Haydale CEO Keith Broadbent said: “It has been a pleasure collaborating with Saint-Gobain and to see the benefits of their expertise in hBN and our knowledge of functionalisation combine to deliver real enhancements to their products. The market for hBN is significant and we look forward to working with Saint-Gobain in the future.”

Saint-Gobain Boron Nitride Technical Manager Sarah Plain added: “hBN powder has historically proven difficult to functionalise without negative effects on thermal performance. Working with Haydale and their HDPlas™ technology has helped us overcome this challenge, which has led to exciting results during customer testing. We look forward to further collaboration with the excellent team at Haydale to deliver even more value to our customers.”