Graphene 3D printing: introduction and market status - Page 5

Sweden-based Graphematech, a startup company that develops and sells novel graphene-based nanocomposite materials and services, has announced the development of a scalable method for coating polymer powder and granular with a layer of its Aros Graphene. The Company sees this is a major boost to the polymer composites industry.

This newly developed method is said to be very efficient for obtaining high quality dispersion of Aros Graphene additive inside a polymer matrix without the use of high shear forces in melt mixing. It enormously reduces production costs and minimizes property degradation for both the polymer matrix and the additive while maintaining high quality and homogeneous composite. The invented method can be also applied for coating polymer powder with different materials such as metals, ceramics, fibers, cellulose and more.

A research team led by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and conducted in collaboration with Fudan University has developed an economical and industrially viable strategy to produce graphene. The new technique may offer a way for efficient large-scale production of graphene, to pave the way for sustainable synthesis of the material.

The conventional method of producing graphene utilizes sound energy or shearing forces to exfoliate graphene layers from graphite, and then dispersing the layers in large amounts of organic solvent. As insufficient solvent causes the graphene layers to reattach themselves back into graphite, yielding one kilogram of graphene currently requires at least one tonne of organic solvent, making the method costly and environmentally unfriendly.

Researchers from Clemson's Nanomaterials Institute (CNI) have made progress towards their goal to produce wireless power using triboelectricity - a green energy source invented by the CNI In March 2017. The simple triboelectric nanogenerator, or U-TENG, is a small device made simply of plastic and tape that generates electricity from motion and vibrations. When the two materials are brought together - through clapping your hands or tapping your feet, for example - a voltage is generated that is detected by a wired, external circuit. Electrical energy, by way of the circuit, is then stored in a capacitor or a battery until it's needed.

Later advancements caused the researchers to uncover a wireless version of TENG, called the W-TENG, which greatly expands the applications of the technology. The W-TENG was engineered under the same premise as the U-TENG, using materials that are so opposite in affinity for electrons that they generate a voltage when brought in contact with each other.

Haydale has announced the first commercial sales of its products to Everpower Sheng Tie (Xiamen) Graphene Technology ("Everpower"). The sales are for a range of Haydale's Silicon Carbide Fibres and 3D PLA masterbatch mixed with Haydale's functionalized Graphene Nano Platelets ("Additive Manufacturing PLA" or "AM PLA") for immediate delivery.

Haydale believes that these sales to Everpower are strategically important as they mark Haydale's first commercial sales into China and launches the Group and its products into what is expected to be a significant marketplace for Haydale.

Guiness World Records has named a 3D printed graphene aerogel as "the least dense 3D printed structure". The 3D printed graphene aerogel, developed by a Kansas State University, University at Buffalo and Lanzhou University (China) team, weighs 0.5 milligrams per cubic centimeter. This achievement will be featured in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2018 Edition.

The way the researchers print the three-dimensional graphene is also regarded as revolutionary. The researchers use a modified inkjet printer that uses two nozzles. They 3D print droplets of a graphene oxide and water mixture in a freezer on a cold plate that is minus 20 degrees Celsius. This method creates a 3D ice structure of graphene and frozen water, which helps the graphene to maintain its shape.

Researchers at Rice University and China's Tianjin University have used 3D laser printing to fabricate centimeter-sized graphene objects. The team has demonstrated the making of graphene foams from non-graphene starting materials, in a method that could reportedly be scaled for additive manufacturing applications with pore-size control. The process is conducted at room temperature, without the need for molds. The rather unusual starting materials are powdered sugar and nickel powder.

3D laser printers work differently than the more familiar extrusion-based 3D printers, which create objects by squeezing melted plastic through a needle as they trace out two-dimensional patterns. In 3D laser sintering, a laser shines down onto a flat bed of powder. Wherever the laser touches powder, it melts or sinters the powder into a solid form. The laser is rastered, or moved back and forth, line by line to create a single two-dimensional slice of a larger object. Then a new layer of powder is laid over the top of that layer and the process is repeated to build up three-dimensional objects from successive two-dimensional layers.

Graphene 3D Lab has announced the launch of a new graphene-enhanced 3D printing filament - the Graphene-HIPS. It is said to be a distinctly engineered and innovative semi-flexible FDM 3D Printing material reinforced with graphene and designed for high performance 3D printing.

This FDM material reportedly exhibits excellent interlayer adhesion, toughness and superb impact resistance. These properties provide an excellent mechanical and structural performance for 3D printed objects made from this material. It is well suited for printing precise functional components for engineering applications. Graphene-HIPS is both temperature and weather resistant, which makes it an ideal material for outdoor projects.

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Researchers at Delft University have shown that placing certain types of bacteria on flat sheets of graphene oxide can turn it into a reduced version of the compound (rGO) by pulling oxygen atoms off the material as they metabolize. This turns the popular process of GO reduction, normally done with chemicals or high heat, into a much cheaper, more environmentally friendly process.

While the traditional method of reducing graphene with heat or chemicals is still more effective, the bacterial method could be very useful in the production of precise, small-scale graphene structures such as those produced with a 3D printer. In this work, the researchers document how they modified a $300 CoLiDo 3D printer by replacing the extruder with a pipet tip and tubing system. This alteration allows the liquid biological ink (‘bioink’) to be transported under ambient temperatures that are amenable to microbes, rather than the elevated temperatures that are applied to melt plastic filament, the team explains.

UK-based Haydale announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 31 December 2016, or H1 FY2016. Total income was £1.5 million (up 90% from H1 2015) and the loss was £2.4 million (up from £1.9 million in H1 2015).

Haydale also provided some interesting update. The company signed a joint development agreement with Hunsman in Novermber 2016, and Haydale now says that Huntsman announced strong initial test results from Haydale's graphene enhanced Araldite resins in thermal management. Haydale's Thailand subsidiary also announced two new small contacts - one from the Thai Ministry of Energy for a printed hybrid functionalized graphene electrode in a supercapacitor and another from IRPC, a leading Thai petrochemical chemical processor.