Graphene composites: introduction and market status - Page 42

Vittoria Industries recently declared plans to launch a full range of graphene-enhanced road race and MTB tires around next September. The company also won the IDTechEx printed electronics europe 2015 award for "best commercialization", for using graphene in their bicycle wheels and tires. The company used pure and high grade graphene of 3 to 7 layers from Directa Plus.

The Vittoria Group president and founder stated that the company was successful with both existing products, as the carbon wheels show a dramatic improvement of heat dissipation and significant increased material strength and the tires have a much lower rolling resistance whilst improving grip and traction. He says sales are increasing around the world and some are even used as service wheels in the big professional bike races.

Researchers at Northwestern University developed a solution-based graphene ink that can be 3D-printed under ambient conditions via simple extrusion into arbitrarily shaped, electrically conductive, mechanically resilient and biocompatible scaffolds with filaments ranging in diameter from 100 to 1000 µm. The resulting material is very flexible, can be easily printed into small or large scale (multiple centimeters) objects, and may hold the potential for printing electronics as well as body parts.

The printed objects contain a high level of graphene while maintaining structural integrity, which is enabled by the particular biocompatible elastomer binder PLG that was chosen in combination with the solvent system. This could be a revolutionary method for producing biomaterials for nervous tissue regeneration, and also biomaterials that are scalable and not very expensive to produce since these novel 3D printable graphene inks are relatively easy to produce, can be rapidly fabricated into an infinite variety of forms (including patient specific implants), and are also surgically friendly (can be adjusted to size and sutured to surrounding tissue).

The Canadian Grafoid aims to purchase the Germany-based Ames Rubber Corp. by June 30th. Ames Rubber specializes in elastomeric materials and processes, holds numerous patents and has customers in office automation, aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, and other industrial sectors.  

Grafoid representative says that the purpose in acquiring Ames is to broaden the company's opportunities by bringing its Mesograf graphene materials into an established, high-value market through a diverse range of elastomeric materials, working with an experienced team of engineers and scientists. Grafoid also states that Ames might be its springboard into the $700 billion rubber and plastics market.

Researchers at The Institute of Advanced Composite Materials at Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and The Seoul National University announced that they have successfully developed a manufacturing process for high molecular composite material with even distribution of graphene without using solvent.

Researchers developed this composite material after applying heat to a mixture of cyclic butylene terephthalate (CBT) with graphene particles. With statistical calculations using a cross sectional image of graphene, the researchers evaluated the distribution of graphene with average inter-particle distance and standard deviation.

The Spanish Graphenea, along with Russian and Spanish collaborators, have shown that adding graphene to alumina improves the ceramic's wear resistance and decreases friction. The result is expected to soon find uses in real products, as graphene and its derivatives seem to be biocompatible and in addition carry a low cost.

Alunima (an oxide of aluminium) has been long in use in biomedical applications such as load-bearing hip prostheses and dental implants, due to its high resistance to corrosion, low friction, high wear resistance and strength. This recent study describes the dry sliding behavior of a graphene/alumina composite material and compares it to regular alumina. The wear rate of the advanced composite was 50% lower than that of pure alumina, while the friction coefficient was reduced by 10%. This finding is made even more astonishing by the fact that the concentration of graphene in the final product is only 0.22% by weight. The type of graphene used for the study is Graphenea's standard graphene oxide. 

U.S-based Local Motors plans to 3D print vehicles within 12 hours, reinforcing extruded printed material with graphene. The company reports significant progress in its additive manufacturing technology since it unveiled its Strati vehicle (pictured) last September.

The Strati's body was printed in 44 hours, assembled and driven at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago last year. It used ABS plastic reinforced with carbon fibre, and contained 40 printed parts. Local Motors announced plans in January this year to open two microfactories in the US, and plans 50 such factories worldwide over the next five years.

Earlier this month, the first mass produced graphene-enhanced phone was rumoured to be near commercial sale by Chinese companies. Now, further details are available as it seems that the device is available on the company's website.

The phone, called the Galapad Settler, is said to use graphene for its touchscreen, as well as casing and battery. 30,000 pieces were made by Chinese graphene company Moxi together with Chinese device maker Galapad, with each device selling for $399 USD.

Haydale reported their financial results for H2 2014 - with revenues rising to £480,000 million (up from £60,000 in H1 2014, but this includes £360,000 generated by EPL). Loss before tas was £1.57 million (up from £580,000 in Hq 2014). In the beginning of 2015, Haydale had £3.95 million in cash.

During the past six months, Haydale increased their production capacity with two more R&D plasma reactors, signed a commercial collaboration with Alex Thomson Racing to develop graphene-enhanced composite solutions for racing boats, and signed a 5-year exclusive commercial agreement with Swansea University. EPL (acquired by Haydale in November 2014) was awarded £261,000 to test graphene-enhanced composite for oil & gas pipes.

The Hohenstein institute, along with the companies IoLiTec Ionic Liquids Technologies from Heilbronn and FUCHSHUBER TECHNO-TEX- from Lichtenstein, and Belgian project partners Centexbel and Soieries Elite, have been working on a research project designed to explore the use of graphene in the textile sector.

The research, called GRAFAT, explores the use of graphene for the surface modification of textiles in heat protective clothing. Using graphene to modify the surface can significantly improve the flame-retardant properties of a textile. Graphene can act as a physical barrier, effectively preventing the penetration of heat and gases. At the same time, graphene also has the potential to prevent the thermal decomposition of the textile. In addition, graphene also improves the textile's resistance to abrasion and rupture.

A science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, other 2d materials, and hybrid systems was put together in a joint effort by over 60 academics and industrialists. The roadmap covers the next 10 years and beyond, and its objective is to guide the research community and industry toward the development of products based on graphene and related materials.

The roadmap highlights three broad areas of activity. The first task is to identify new layered materials, assess their potential, and develop reliable, reproducible and safe means of producing them on an industrial scale. Identification of new device concepts enabled by 2d materials is also required, along with the development of component technologies. The ultimate goal is to integrate components and structures based on 2d materials into systems capable of providing new functionalities and application areas.