en.Wedoany.com Reported - French company NAWAH has commenced operations at its first North American manufacturing facility in Englewood, Ohio, near Dayton. The $10 million plant is the world's first to produce roll-to-roll vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) materials at an industrial scale.
On the eve of the commissioning ceremony on June 10, CEO Alain Guinot and US Operations and Business Development Manager Kevin Retz briefed the media on this milestone. The plant has an annual production capacity of 400,000 square meters, equivalent to the area of 75 American football fields. Previously, the largest VACNT material specifications were only 10×10 cm sheets. NAWAH's patented VACNT interlayer product platform, named NAWAH-Stitch™, is used for vertical reinforcement of thermoset composites.
Guinot stated that this is a very important moment, with a wave of innovation emerging in the United States and many new developments taking place. Retz noted that this marks the true beginning of NAWAH's US operations, as the company brings a highly unique material to market at an industrial scale, something no one has achieved before.
Initial output from the plant will supply high-end sporting goods manufacturers. Meanwhile, NAWAH is conducting material certification with aerospace companies in North America and Europe.
VACNT for composites offers high strength, lightweight properties, and multifunctionality, providing design freedom for complex shapes. This material delivers exceptional energy absorption, impact resistance, and electrical and thermal conductivity in the X, Y, and Z directions. The vertical reinforcement structure creates interlayer and inter-fiber structural bridging, reducing delamination risk and adding vertical reinforcement to standard interlayer horizontal bonding. These nanomaterials act as interlayer toughening agents in carbon fiber-reinforced plastics. NAWAH's materials are delivered on a film carrier, stable at room temperature, improving overall efficiency and making VACNT materials suitable for repair applications.
Guinot believes this opens up new frontiers for design innovation and creativity, with potential uses not yet fully understood. During the technology development phase, NAWAH collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The Ohio plant is equipped with manufacturing machinery from US and European suppliers. Partnerships with JobsOhio, the Dayton Development Coalition, and the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) enabled the facility to go from site selection to commissioning in just 12 months.
The 3,530-square-meter Englewood plant will initially produce NAWAH-Stitch Film products (VACNT on a resin film carrier) for sporting goods and similar applications. End-product manufacturers can precisely place VACNT where composite parts most need strength, energy absorption, and fatigue resistance. The continuous roll-to-roll production line will begin commercial manufacturing in the summer. NAWAH US expects to employ 20 people by year-end and 50 by 2029, when four production lines will be operational. In France, NAWAH will install an identical production line by the end of 2026 to serve the European market and provide supply chain resilience.
Retz stated that the technology has limitless applications, with composites being the first focus area, and it will unlock next-generation design thinking.
