C-Bond Systems (the “Company” or “C-Bond”) (OTC: CBNT), a nanotechnology solutions company, today announced that it has retained world-renowned chemist and nanotechnology expert Professor Andrew R. Barron to initiate a strategic technology development project: “self-healing glass” for the automotive sector. The objective of the development will be to create a new nano-liquid chemical solution (“Liquid”) that repairs visible chips and cracks in windshield glass to reduce replacements and simplify repairs.
C-Bond and Professor Andrew R. Barron, the founder of the Energy Safety Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University in the United Kingdom, are launching the development of a new Liquid that can be applied to a windshield that flows into cracks at the nano-scale and provides an active bond after being exposed to a heat source thus reforming the glass rather than filling with a resin, which is how windshields are currently repaired. A major problem with resin repair is that it relies on the bonding between the resin and the glass and the strength of the resin to replace the strength of the glass. The bonding of a typical resin to glass requires a highly clean surface, which is difficult to ensure, and thus, subsequent failure ordinarily occurs at the glass-resin interface.
The goal of this new Liquid is to be able to “heal” visible chips and cracks in a windshield after they occur, making it different than C-Bond’s current windshield strengthener, C-Bond nanoShield™, which is focused on preventing windshield chips and cracks by filling in and repairing microscopic defects on the glass surface.
“At our core, we are a technology development company with an IP portfolio value of $33.7 million,” stated Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of C-Bond. “We have some of the best scientists in the world working on this project and expect meaningful milestones throughout the remainder of the year, including a patent filing. Although we continue to focus significant efforts on commercializing our products and are generating revenue from those products, we remain committed to expanding our strong IP portfolio,” concluded Silverman.
Professor Barron is the founder and director of the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University in the United Kingdom and the Sêr Cymru Chair of Low Carbon Energy and Environment. Educated at Imperial College (London), Professor Barron has held posts at Rice University, University of Texas at Austin, and Harvard University. He is the author of over 500 publications, 50 Patents, 8 books, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Star of Asia International Award, Hümboldt Senior Scientist Research Award, and the first Welch Foundation Norman Hackerman Award.
The annual market for automotive glass replacement services in the U.S. exceeded $5 billion in 2016, and is expected to surpass $8 billion by 2025, according to IbisWorld. Approximately 15 million windshields are replaced in the U.S. every year.
