Israeli nano-lubricant could mean no more oil changes

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http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?...ne=Technology&

Israeli nano-lubricant could mean no more oil changes


Imagine buying a new car and driving it for 10 years without once taking it for an oil-and-lube job. The engine won't even have a dipstick to check the oil. That's what the future holds if Rehovot-based ApNano Materials succeeds in marketing NanoLub.

NanoLub is the world's first synthetic lubricant to be based on spherical inorganic nanoparticles. As with other lubricants, its job is to reduce wear and friction between moving objects (like engine parts), enabling longer operation and higher efficiency. NanoLub dramatically outperforms every known commercial solid lubricant marketed today.

As its creator, ApNano Materials has just been selected by the US investing journal Red Herring as one of the top 100 innovators that will drive global markets in 2005.

Red Herring's selection is among the most prestigious awards bestowed today. It follows earlier recognition by the US business research firm InnovationWORLD (ApNano was listed among its InnovationWORLD 21 companies in October.) Israel's business daily TheMarker has also recently recognized ApNano's achievements, dubbing CEO Menachem Genut as one of Israel's most promising entrepreneurs.

Niles Fleischer, ApNano's VP of Business Development, said that the Red Herring award is especially valuable and timely. "This confirms our international standing in the eyes of both existing and potential customers and produces the visibility that many of them need to do business with us," he told ISRAEL21c.
"We also see that some venture capital firms are revisiting their investment plans and their views concerning our company."

The search for a perfect lubricant - that is, one that never requires replacement - is an old one. In the last century, synthetic additives extended the effectiveness of age-old lubricants like oil. ApNano's product is the result of the pioneering research performed by Professor Reshef Tenne, ApNano CEO Genut and others in the Department of Materials and Interfaces at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

The advantage of NanoLub over existing solid lubricants is expressed in its description, "spherical inorganic nanoparticles." NanoLub spheres can roll over one another - like miniature ball bearings - staying cooler and maintaining their function longer. Their nanometer scale enables them to find their way into tinier places and reduces their agglomeration, resulting in dramatically increased coverage, even on rough surfaces. Finally, as inorganic material, NanoLub performs beautifully even in extremely harsh environments.

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