Lockheed Martin, Sabic in Joint Venture to Develop Carbon Nanostructures

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) (Bethesda, Maryland) and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) formed a joint venture (JV) in Saudi Arabia to develop carbon nanostructure materials for a variety of end markets and applications.

Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), Lockheed Martin and Sabic will coordinate on the development, industrial validation, testing, scale-up, production and sale of carbon nanostructure materials and carbon nanostructure-infused products.

The MoU is part of an initiative to develop new, specialty-based business opportunities for Sabic and higher value-added businesses in Saudi Arabia, according to Ernesto Occhiello, Sabic's executive vice president for technology and innovation.

"We are happy that Lockheed Martin has shown their intention to share their newly developed technology with Sabic," he said. "An innovative partner like Lockheed Martin is indeed valuable to us, and we hope the initiative will be the beginning of a longer-term relationship with the company."

A carbon nanostructure is a cross-linked and highly entangled arrangement of carbon nanotubes on a base material. Carbon nanostructures can be grown at scale on various substrates and formed into materials with superior structural and conductive properties.

"We believe the combination of Lockheed Martin's advanced nanotechnologies with Sabic's premier capabilities will lead to exciting opportunities for innovative new materials," said Dale Bennet, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin mission systems and training.

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