Haydale, (AIM: HAYD), the global advanced materials group, is pleased to announce that it has signed an exclusive distributor agreement (the "Agreement") between Haydale and US-based Zirconia Inc. The agreement is for a period of 30 months and allows Haydale full distribution rights of CeramycShield™, ceramic geopolymers, into the UK water infrastructure marketplace, with a view to address previously unsolvable water infrastructure problems in the UK. The Agreement also provides for Haydale and Zirconia, to work to develop jointly owned intellectual property for next generation products applicable across multiple global infrastructure markets.

Zirconia's patented Ceramic Surface Treatment technology is a new, advanced material technology, in a new class of inorganic ceramic polymers, that uses Haydale's silicon carbide microfibre as a reinforcement. This technology has now been commercialised by Zirconia in the US where the products are readily available.

These surface treatments cost effectively renew and restore cracked, old, decaying concrete, ensuring a more durable, structurally sound asset with better-than-new performance due to the biologically impervious property of the treatment.  This means that microbial life, that are a wear factor in sub-grade water infrastructure, are eliminated. 

With authorisation from Zirconia, Haydale may also distribute to additional territories and for products outside of the initial contract scope.  This distributor agreement is extendable.

Benjamin Cook, CEO at Zirconia, said: "It is good to have partnerships whose technical knowledge and experience will allow us to pursue a path of continuous improvement for our nanoparticle-based ceramic surface treatments. As our green tech solution is the only technology that bonds chemically to concrete, solving key problems with subgrade water infrastructure, this partnership means improved water infrastructure in the UK and globally. We are working with Haydale to make water infrastructure more sustainable, all at the nano-scale where innovation resides."

Keith Broadbent, Haydale CEO, said: "This innovative product is applied as a liquid and allows in-situ restoration of concrete, thereby avoiding expensive tear-out and replacement. It is anticipated that this technology will assist the UK water market, by rejuvenating old concrete structures that could otherwise not be repaired. We are currently working with a UK water utilities company where the benefits are already noted. This technology has the potential to be a very important technology for the UK water industry to achieve the AMP-7 objectives over the next five years."

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Notes to Editors

Haydale is a global technologies and materials group that facilitates the integration of graphene and other nanomaterials into the next generation of commercial technologies and industrial materials.  With expertise in graphene, silicon carbide and other nanomaterials, Haydale is able to deliver improvements in electrical, thermal and mechanical properties, as well as toughness through its state of the art functionalisation.  Haydale has granted patents for its technologies in Europe, USA, Australia, Japan and China and operates from six sites in the UK, USA and the Far East.

For more information please visit: www.haydale.com 

Twitter: @haydalegraphene