Oxford P2i has received its first ever order to supply equipment to a major international company to manufacture bio consumable devices under licence in the customer's own factory
The deal is expected to be the first of many orders for equipment and / or associated licensing for the company as interest grows in its groundbreaking ion mask technology.
"This is a major milestone for P2i as it marks the transfer of ion mask technology to a mass manufacturing process and its availability across a wide range of applications," said business development director Ian Robins.
"We are already seeing a great deal of interest in ion mask, not only in the field of bio consumable devices, but for potential applications in performance textiles, weatherproof footwear, filtration media, microtechnology devices and diagnostic devices".
Ion mask works by applying a protective layer, just nanometres thick, over the entire surface of the product by means of an ionised gas (plasma).
The layer is molecularly bound to the surface and will not leach away, endowing it with ultra low surface energy values down to one third that of PTFE (Teflon).
The treated surface becomes highly water and oil repellent, displaying significant advantages ranging from reduced adsorption of protein materials in laboratory disposables through to making running shoes water resistant yet breathable without the use of a membrane technology.
