Two months ago, Graphene Labs and Lomiko Metals launched a new company called Graphene 3D Labs that focuses on the development of high-performance graphene-enhanced materials for 3D Printing. Now we hear that Graphene 3D Lab filed a provisional patent application for the use of graphene-enhanced material, along with other materials, in 3D printing. This will enable the 3D printing of electronics devices - such as electronic circuits, sensors, or batteries.
The company's CEO, Daniel Stolyarov, says that they use Lomiko's high-quality graphene as the base material for producing graphene nanoplatelets, due to their cost and consistency in quality. The company says that adding graphene to polymers which are conventionally used in 3D printing improves the properties of the polymer in many different ways; it improves the polymers mechanical strength as well as its electrical and thermal conductivity.
The method described in the provisional patent application allows consumers to use the polymer, infused with graphene, together with conventional polymers in the same printing process, thereby fabricating functional electronic devices using 3D printing.
Graphene 3D Labs is not alone in graphene-based 3D printing research. In October 2013 American Graphite Technologies (AGT) launched a research project in collaboration with Ukraine's Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology that will develop graphene-based working materials for 3D printing.
