Galvorn is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and has the conductivity of copper, according to an article on LinkedIn. While the jury is still out on whether it’s faster than a speeding bullet, experts at Houston-based DexMat suggest their product can revolutionize the green tech landscape.
Galvorn can be an alternative to rare and expensive copper — a crucial metal in electronics, according to a report from GreenBiz. What’s more, the inventors plan to displace dirty materials, contribute to cleaner air, and advance green tech as their “magical” material is rolled out.
Galvorn is the result of a more than $20 million investment from two U.S. Air Force research agencies, the Department of Energy, and NASA, among other tech heavy hitters, GreenBiz reports.
“DexMat’s potential climate impact gets us dizzy,” investor Shomik Dutta, managing partner at Overture Climate VC, told GreenBiz as part of a gushing review.
Galvorn is made as tape, yarn, thread, or mesh, among other forms. Its makers said that J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” was an inspiration in the process, though, at first glance, you wouldn’t think it can stand up to Orc blades.
“[A] skilled elven smith by the name of Eöl creates a new type of metal called galvorn that is described as being thin and flexible, yet also strong enough to serve as armor,” DexMat shared on the company’s blog, describing how the creators came up with the name.
While not made in an elf’s forge, the real-life version of Galvorn comes from an equally impressive process. It’s a high-tech technique that includes splitting hydrocarbons, according to GreenBiz.
The impact for consumers will be felt in the application. Lighter and faster vehicles, lighter wind-turbine blades, and higher conductivity in batteries to improve renewable power storage are all advantages Galvorn is set to realize, GreenBiz reports. It is already being used to help de-ice plane wings.
Dutta noted in the GreenBiz article that putting Galvorn fibers in concrete and other materials could strengthen and provide longer life for buildings and infrastructure. The goal for DexMat is to make carbon-heavy resources like copper “obsolete.”
“The climate crisis, the clean energy transition, and the ‘electrify everything’ movement are driving a massive transformation of industries and infrastructure globally,” the website states.
DexMat touts a clean manufacturing process that uses electricity, which at times is powered by renewables. Since Galvorn is made from carbon, it locks the heat-trapping element “into long-term storage, where it can’t contribute to global warming,” the company claims.
“Of everything we have touched, this has the potential to have the most impact in the most places,” Dutta said to GreenBiz.
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