PreScouter Discusses the Emerging Technology IBM and Puma Are Using

The next big disruptive technology for R&D is Phase Change Materials.

​​​Due to the advancement of material science, there is a growing resurgence in the research and development of Phase Change Materials.

The concept of phase change is as simple as the transition from water to ice. R&D professionals and scientists are now able to bring this transformation process to their industry through Phase Change Materials. The implementation is pervasive in several industries including more natural fits like packaging. It’s predicted that temperature controlled pharmaceutical packaging solutions market is going to increase 9.3 percent through 2026, according to FMI.

"An extensive number of new applications, such as temporal-spatial control of drug release, optical information storage, as well as ultra-high capacity barcoding techniques, have been developed and are currently either under phase trials or have entered production stage,"

Siwei Zhang, Ph.D., PreScouter Scholar

But Phase Change Materials also have more creative uses like in biotechnology, where they have the potential to identify and monitor cancer, cardiovascular failure, and autism.

"An extensive number of new applications, such as temporal-spatial control of drug release, optical information storage, as well as ultra-high capacity barcoding techniques, have been developed and are currently either under phase trials or have entered production stage," said Siwei Zhang, Ph.D., PreScouter Scholar.

There is a recent growing commercialization of Phase Change Materials in the textile industry by brands like Puma, who created a new jersey with ACTV Thermo-R technology to help soccer players with their performance. Through an athletic tape in the jerseys, Puma uses microcapsule Phase Change Materials to maintain an athlete’s temperature by absorbing excess heat and releasing it back to the athlete’s body when needed. In a recent report, PreScouter has traced back the use of Phase Change Materials in textiles back to the 1980s when NASA used it for astronaut uniforms. Though its reemergence in brands like Puma, PreScouter discusses how the textile industry is incorporating these materials into clothing as well as identifying the pros and cons of entering this market. 

Phase Change Materials have more uses than simply textiles. They can also store data through Phase Change Memory cells.  These cells are already used in technology, like CDs, but there has been a lot of research that PreScouter explored about using this memory to build faster and more storage in smartphones and other popular devices. PreScouter will be discussing the implications of IBM's recent breakthrough research on current memory storage like flash memory.

Considering the growing interest and the recent commercialization of Phase Change Materials by brands like Puma and IBM, lead scientist for PreScouter, Dr. Marija Jović, will be presenting a webinar based-off an in-depth Phase Change Materials report with Scholars, Kyle Gracey, Ph.D. candidate and Veronica Huang, Ph.D.

“The most surprising find in putting together this Phase Change Materials report was simply the fact that this technology can be applied in so many versatile applications for automotive, aerospace, telecommunications, life science, robotics, and even fashion industries,” said Dr. Jović.

The ongoing development, applications and industrial impact of Phase Change Materials will be discussed in the June 9, 2016 webinar at 1:00 pm CDT. Registration is currently open here

For more information, contact Amanda Elliott from PreScouter at 708-320-1719 or email at aelliott@prescouter.com.

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About PreScouter:

PreScouter provides corporate innovation leaders with the data and insight on which to base product development and R&D planning decisions. PreScouter partners with a network of Scholars at leading global institutions to connect 200+ corporate clients to commercialize technologies. Clients range from Coca-Cola and BAE Systems to Clorox.

Source: PreScouter

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