Sigma Technologies Int'l Inc.

Sigma Technologies produces specialty pigments, based on a vacuum deposition technology that involves simultaneous deposition of polymer and various metal and ceramic coatings, on a rotating drum. Thousands or layers are deposited at high speed, forming a multilayer nano-composite material. The bulk nano-composite is removed from the drum and it is reduced into a fine polymer/metal or polymer/ceramic powder, which for some applications may be further reduced to a nano-flake pigment. Pigments for different applications can be produced by varying the properties if the deposited materials.

NANOFLAKE PIGMENTS

Printing
Specialty Paints
Displays
Signature Reduction
Propellants
Energetic Materials
Other

For printing, paints and IR signature reduction applications, the polymer is designed to dissolve in a solvent, leading to the production of a metal pigment (usually aluminum), composed of individual flakes, that have an area of 5-20mm and a thickness of about 20-30nm. For propellant and energetic pigment applications the polymer/aluminum nano-composite is crashed into micron+ size powder where each particle contains several nano-flakes separated by polymer layers. The polymer in this case can be formulated to react with the aluminum, leading to an integrated fuel system.

BULK NAN-COMPOSITE MATERIAL 1000S OF POLYMER AND METAL LAYERS

NANO-COMPOSITE FORMULATED FOR..PRINTING AND PAINTING APPLICATIONS (10-20nm Al)

NANO-COMPOSITE FOR.ENERGETIC PIGMENT APPLICATIONS (100-500nm Al)

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PIGMENTS FOR HIGH ENERGY APPLICATIONS

Ultra high metal surface area in a single nano-composite particle
Aluminum metal is pure and unoxidized
Particles have electrostatic sensitivity equal to that of conventional aluminum powder
Other metals and alloys are possible
A higher energy integrated fuel system can be produced with a fluorine containing polymer

SOLID FUEL PROPELLANT APPLICATIONS

Improved burn efficiency
No detectable agglomeration
superior mechanical strength when mixed with HTPB fuel grain
Reduced slag formation
Complete aluminum oxidation
Very low signature (low smoke generation) due to the nano-size of the oxidized aluminum flakes

Augmentated Combustion Chemistry

O2 Combustion Chemistry -400 kCal

2Al + 1.5O2 Al2O3

x[2C12H18O6 + 27O2 24CO2 + 18H2O] x=small fraction

•Augmented Fluorine Based Integrated Combustion Chemistry -738 kCal

2Al + 3CF2 + 2O2 2AlF3 + 2CO + CO2

EXHAUST PLUM OF A NANO-COMPOSITE FUEL HYBRID ROCKET, SHOWING MINIMAL SMOKE PRODUCTION

COMBUSTION SURFACE OF PARTIALLY BURNED HTPB+Al FUEL SHOWING Al AGGLOMERATION

COMBUSTION SURFACE WITH NANOCOMPOSITE FUEL SHOWING NO AGGLOMERATION

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