New Technology Acquired by Element Six

New Technology Acquired by Element Six

June 13, 2006

    ASCOT, England, June 13 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Element
Six (E6) announces that it has acquired the assets and
intellectual property in order to fabricate a new material,
ScD, a unique cemented diamond-silicon carbide composite.
The Intellectual Property and know-how were purchased from
Skeleton Technologies AG of Switzerland and the
manufacturing plant has been acquired from Stockholm
Termobehandling AB. In order to benefit from E6's existing
powder metallurgy expertise and comprehensive diamond
research and production capability, the ScD fabrication
machinery will be installed in E6's industrial diamond
production facility in South Africa.

    ScD has already proven its use in a broad range of
applications. The high diamond content of ScD makes it an
ideal thermal management substrate for the higher powered
silicon-based electronic devices such as processors used in
Network Servers and industrial PCs. The diamond composite is
extremely wear-resistant and the manufacturing technology
lends itself to making three dimensional shapes for complex
wear parts and mining components. The inert nature of
silicon carbide and the biocompatibility of diamond will
enable the production of medical prosthetics such as hip
joints.

    E6 Technologies' Commercial Development Manager,
Christopher Ogilvie Thompson, said, "This acquisition
enables Element Six to be at the forefront of putting
diamond based thermal management systems into Network
Servers and then into many other high-powered electronic
systems. This will be the first of many applications for
this exciting new material. Diamond is the ultimate
engineering material and ScD is a cost effective material
enabling the electronic industry to make use of the extreme
properties of diamond. Element Six is delighted to be at the
forefront of assisting the electronics industry to launch
more powerful servers using diamond-based thermal
management systems."

    About Element Six

    Element Six is the world's leading supplier of high
quality industrial diamond and the complementary cubic
boron nitride (cBN) abrasive materials. These materials are
available both in their single crystal and polycrystalline
forms, for abrasive and non-abrasive industrial uses. The
Element Six group of companies operates internationally
with processing and manufacturing facilities in South
Africa, Sweden, Ireland, the UK, The Netherlands, China and
the Ukraine.  

    For more information, please contact:

     Chris J.H. Wort, Technical Manager, Element Six, 
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Element Six Ltd