NANOSONIC INC. — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.6

Description

NanoSonic is a small advanced materials company with expertise in development of blast resistantmaterials coatings to make homes fire-resistant and 3D printing that can be scaled to printinghouses. To allow rapid manufacturing of homes and agricultural infrastucture in rural communitiesfollowing a disaster NanoSonic shall develop new concrete formulations for direct integration byAlquist 3D into gantry multistory printers. Alquist 3D is currently printing 200 homes in Virginia ina partnership with Habitat for Humanity. NanoSonic will utilize on-site rubble as reclaimedaggregate (RCA) and incorporate Lhoist by-product kiln ash to generate a concrete with a reducedcarbon footprint and increased energy efficiency over legacy ordinary portland cement (OPC)concrete.Using NanoSonic's existing HybridSil technology and industry waste novel toughenedgeopolymer concrete shall be developed for 3D printing. HybridSil a qualified "fire restrictive"material with a health rating of zero has been independently validated to have ballistic / blastdurability in excess of polyureas. Research shows that incorporating waste fly ash yields highercompressive strength and lower water absorption and incorporating metakaolin clay reactive withlime in kiln ash leads to higher compressive and flexural strength. Concrete systems will beevaluated using industry ASTM standards and NanoSonic's testing facilities. Through thisprogram NanoSonic will develop optimize and commercially transition next generation GPCmaterials for the USDA and construction industry - high strength low carbon footprint HybridSilGPC with a previously unavailable combination of processability mechanical strength andresilience against natural hazards.