Sep 29, 2017Rubber band company Alliance Rubber Co. reports that it may be on the verge of releasing the first substantial innovation in rubber bands in decades—and it could benefit the radio frequency identification industry. Researchers at Alliance Rubber are developing and testing graphene-infused rubber that could provide a new, versatile material that could accommodate RFID or Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies.
The company says it is testing whether applying graphene to rubber could enable the use of rubber bands to block RFID signals, or to enable them—in the latter case, making a simple rubber band a digital source of information for a product or asset that could be accessed via radio transmissions, or by bar-code scan or simply by changing color. The company has partnered with the University of Sussex to study the use of graphene in rubber, and plans to develop intelligent rubber products during the coming months or years.
Alliance Rubber, located in Hot Springs, Ariz., is one of the largest providers of rubber bands—the familiar and humble tools used by consumers and businesses alike to hold things together. In recent years, the discovery of graphene has offered a new opportunity to innovate, says Jason Risner, Alliance Rubber's director of business strategy. The company already manufactures 2,200 different products sold throughout 55 countries.
Approximately two years ago, the company gained an interest in a project under way at the University of Sussex, where researchers were mixing graphene into rubber to make it stronger. With the infusion of graphene, Risner explains, an astonishing material resulted that was not only stronger than standard rubber, but had conductive capabilities. That meant sensors could be embedded in the graphene and rubber that would respond to the environment around the band.
Graphene is a carbon material consisting of two-dimensional, atomic-scale hexagon (honeycomb-style) shapes, making it one of the strongest substances ever discovered—reportedly more than 200 times stronger than steel. That strength offers value to rubber bands by making them nearly break-proof. But it also carries electricity better than copper, for instance, and can conduct energy well at room temperature without creating heat. That means it can potentially enable the use of sensor technology and also accomplish data storage. For example, rubber wristbands could sense information such as a wearer's temperature, and the rubber could respond by changing color.
Alliance Rubber is now sponsoring two researchers at the university to further investigate how much graphene would be optimal, and how the material could be used for commercial benefit. How the sensor data could be revealed to users of the rubber bands offers some opportunity for RFID technology use, Risner says.
Initially, the company has three use cases in mind: to change color based on sensor measurements; to function as an "invisible bar code" that could be scanned using a spectrometer, for instance; or for RFID transmission blocking (the team envisions wrapping a rubber band around passports or credit cards to prevent criminals from reading their tags without a user's knowledge). The invisible bar code could be used to capture the data on the rubber band, if a user were to interrogate it with an RF transmission using a specific RF frequency. It could be possible, Risner says, to employ basic NFC technology if an NFC chip were incorporated in the rubber.
In one conjectured use case, Risner explains, the bands could be used to hold together packages of fish or other temperature-sensitive products. The bands could have sensors tracking such conditions as the off-putting of a gas, indicating spoilage, or could have a built-in RFID chip with a unique ID number to enable the collection of a fish package's history as it moved though the supply chain to the store. Initially, he says, "probably you would need a special device" to interrogate the rubber band via RF, or a spectrometer that measures light properties.
The research does not currently include the use of RFID and NFC. However, Risner reports, the company believes the use of standard NFC or RFID in the rubber bands would be feasible. He expects the sensor data and any unique identifiers in the rubber bands could be of value to the medical, automotive, agriculture and retail industries.
On a simpler basis, Risner notes, the graphene itself could be used to block an RF transmission. RFID-blocking wallets and similar products have been sold for years to consumers as a preventative measure, though the surreptitious reading of RFID tags has not been a significant problem.
"You don't get too many chances to reinvent the rubber band," Risner states. The company has long-term hopes of developing intelligent rubber bands that could cost a fraction of a cent per band when manufactured in high volume, he says, adding, "I think graphene itself is going to change the world."
