Axion International Expands IP Portfolio with New Patent for Flame-Retardant Coating
New Rutgers University Patent to Provide Axion’s Licensed Technology with Stronger Intellectual Property Protection as Axion Enters Flame-Retardant Market
NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Axion International (OTCBB:AXIH.ob - News), a leading producer of industrial building products and railroad ties made from 100% recycled plastic, announced that a new patent has been awarded that will expand Axion’s intellectual property portfolio and protect the company as it begins to sell a unique flame-retardant coating for use in the flame-retardant industry. The coating can be used on Axion’s existing line of 100% recycled plastic railroad ties and structural building products, in addition to other applications.
The patent was awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to Rutgers University in March 2011. Through existing licensing agreements with Rutgers, Axion is authorized to sell and sub-license the unique flame-retardant coating throughout the United States, North America and South America.
"We are pleased to announce this latest addition to Axion’s growing intellectual property portfolio,” said Steve Silverman, Axion’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “This flame-retardant coating represents an impressive new technology to enhance and diversify our revenue stream. Not only does the coating tie-in perfectly with our existing railroad and structural building product lines, it also opens our sales channels to various other industries that could benefit from effective flame resistant surfaces.”
The flame-retardant coating was originally developed for the application of achieving enhanced fire resistance in load-bearing plastic. After more than five years of extensive research by a team led by Thomas Nosker, Ph.D., at Rutgers University’s Materials Sciences and Engineering Department a novel solution was found. As opposed to the traditional method of embedding flame-retardant particles directly into the plastic itself, the team at Rutgers developed a formulation that can be sprayed onto most any hard surface using standard equipment. This flame-resistant coating has been effective in significantly adjusting a surface's characteristics in favor of fire resistance using the principal of thermal heat radiation to bounce back heat of various wavelengths. Coating plastic materials with this coating turns the plastic from a combustible material to a non combustible material.
"Although originally designed for use on plastic load-bearing material such as Axion’s railroad ties, due to the ease in which the coating is applied to the substrate, it can be used on virtually any surface,” said Thomas Nosker, Ph.D., at Rutgers University. “This flame-retardant coating has many advantages over existing technologies, including the fact that it is halogen-free, which is beneficial due to the rising concerns over use of brominated flame-retardants and other halogen-based chemicals that can be hazardous to human health. Based on its unique properties, this product represents a significant shift from the way most flame retardants reduce combustibility. There are literally hundreds of applications that could benefit from this coating, especially in the electronics, industrial, and military verticals.”
More than 1.7 million metric tons of flame retardant are used each year, with the global market for flame-retardant chemicals valued at approximately $4.1 billion in 2008, according to a report published by Massachusetts-based market research firm BCC Research. This same report estimates global flame retardant demand to increase to $6.1 billion in 2014, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7%. Gains will be driven by trends toward more stringent flammability standards in the developing world, and by the rising use of plastic products. |
