Nanophase Introduces Innovative, Easy-to-Use Nanoengineered Products for Water-Based Coating Formulations


ROMEOVILLE, Ill., Dec. 6 /- Nanophase Technologies (NASDAQ:NANX), a technology leader in nanostructured materials and nanoengineered dispersions, announces the availability of innovative nanoengineered dispersions optimized for water-based coatings. It has long been the goal of paint and coating manufacturers to increase the scratch resistance and gloss retention of water-based systems to be equal to oil-based organic systems. Nanophase's new line of engineered nanomaterial dispersions enables coating products to achieve this goal.

Nanophase's nanoengineered dispersions enable an applied coating to resist scratching and marring and retain high gloss by up to 80% after rigorous industry testing. The new nanoengineered dispersions produce 300% to 400% improvement in scratch resistance for commercially available water-based coatings tested by the Company. Nanophase delivers this new line of nanoengineered products in highly stable dispersion formats containing 30% to 50% by weight nanoparticles. The additives provide dramatic performance improvements at nanoparticle loading levels as low as 0.5 weight percent.

"Nanophase has built commercial capabilities to manufacture nanocrystalline metal oxides, surface engineer nanoparticles, and disperse the nanoparticles into application-specific fluids", noted Dr. Richard Brotzman, Nanophase's CTO. "We believe our capability to surface engineer nanoparticles and provide stable dispersions is novel in the field. We are now taking the next step and applying our application expertise to optimize nanoparticle dispersions for specific customer formulations. The optimized dispersions dramatically improve scratch and mar resistance of water-based coatings."

"We are excited to introduce this new line of coating technology to the marketplace. These new products reinforce the significant advances that can be achieved by nanomaterials technology," stated Kevin Wenta, Nanophase's EVP of Sales and Marketing. "The introduction of this new line of nanoengineered dispersions is part of Nanophase's strategy to manufacture revolutionary products in simple, useable formats for customers based on proven application results."

For additional information on this new line of performance enhancing nanomaterials, contact Kevin Wenta, EVP Sales and Marketing, 630-771-6743, orkwenta@nanophase.com; Dr. Richard Brotzman, CTO, 630-771-6717, or rbrotzman@ nanophase.com.

Nanophase Technologies Corporation (NANX), nanophase.com/, is a leader in nanomaterials technologies and provides nanoengineered solutions for multiple industrial product applications. Using a platform of patented and proprietary integrated nanomaterial technologies, the Company creates products with unique performance attributes from two ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 facilities. Nanophase delivers commercial quantity and quality nanoparticles, coated nanoparticles, and nanoparticle dispersions in a variety of media. The Company owns or licenses 18 United States and 48 foreign patents and patent applications. Information about Nanophase may be found in the Company's public filings or on its website.

CONTACT: Joseph Cross, President, CEO, +1-630-771-6705, or Jess Jankowski, VP, CFO, +1-630-771-6702, or Nancy Baldwin, Investor Relations,
+1-630-771-6707, all of Nanophase Technologies

Web site: http://nanophase.com/

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