Haydale - Page 13

Haydale Composite Solutions (HCS), Haydale Graphene Industries' wholly owned subsidiary that specializes in the design, development and commercialization of advanced polymer composite materials, will be launching graphene-enhanced poly lactic acid (PLA) filaments for 3D printing at the TCT show in Birmingham on 28 and 29 September 2016.

HCS is collaborating with UK-based Filamentprint, a company specializing in the compounding and manufacture of thermoplastic filaments for 3D printing and Fullerex, Haydale's sales agent for its functionalized nanomaterials.

A vehicle made with graphene in its bodywork has recently been unveiled in Manchester. The car was made by Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) and graphene is said to be used in the car's panels. The BAC Mono spearheads an exhibition to highlight the future of graphene technology.

The BAC Mono has reportedly been road-tested and is being displayed at the National Graphene Institute in Manchester as part of the Science in the City festival from July 22-29. James Baker, graphene business director at The University of Manchester, said: "The graphene car is an excellent example of how graphene can be incorporated into existing products to improve performance".

Graphene-Info is happy to introduce a new feature: Experts Roundup. We asked several graphene professionals to answer a graphene related question. We hope this will prove to be an interesting read and can help shed light on the nooks and cranks of the graphene industry. Enjoy!

Do you think CVD will ever be a viable way to mass produce commercial graphene sheets?

Gonçalo Gonçalves, product marketing specialist, Aixtron: Chemical vapour deposition has been used for several decades in the semiconductor industry to deposit high-quality thin-films. This technique is known to provide superior process reliability and throughput which are key requirements in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Since 2004, graphene has emerged as a wonder material with an impressive number of potential applications across several fields. The discovery of a CVD route to produce graphene has also been an important achievement towards the integration of this carbon nanomaterial into semiconductor devices. With the advance of the graphene field from basic to applied research new and more complex challenges arise, especially in the integration reliability. CVD technique will find its way to mass production of graphene once these challenges are addressed and the benefits of graphene in semiconductor devices are unveiled.

The National Graphene Institute (NGI) recently signed a collaborative partnership with Haydale to accelerate the commercialization of applications. Haydale has been working closely with the NGI, and has now entered into a formal partnership which aims to leverage each party’s particular expertise in order to seek opportunities to develop and commercialize graphene products and applications.

This collaboration will likely see the NGI utilizing the Haydale patented process incorporated in its R&D plasma reactor for research into the functionalization of graphene and other nanomaterials. It will also look into the use, process and identification of nanomaterials to enhance performance in composites, sensors, printable inks, supercapacitators, rubbers and elastomers.

Haydale has announced a new joint development agreement with the Saudi Arabian pipe producer Amiantit's Flowtite Technology, an R&D headquarters based in Norway, to develop pipeline solutions utilizing advanced materials technology including Haydale functionalized graphene based thermosetting resin masterbatches.

Flowtite Technology is the wholly owned GRP Pipe technology and R&D Center of The Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company, a world leading glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP) pipe company. The company has annual revenues in excess of USD$700 million, and is a leading global supplier of water transport, sewer, irrigation and gas systems.

Haydale has announced a collaboration agreement with Graphit Kropfmuhl GmbH, part of AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group and an affiliate of Alterna Capital Partners. The Agreement focuses on the development of new value added nano-material products using Haydale's HDPlas functionalization process and certain AMG graphitic feedstock material primarily from its GK mine in Sri Lanka.

Haydale will initially supply an R&D reactor (HT60) and a larger capacity reactor (HT200) to GK for use under the Agreement. The initial contract value for the supply of the reactors is payable to Haydale on the normal machine supply basis. Subject to reaching the agreed milestones, the majority of the revenue is scheduled to be received in the current financial year and is expected to constitute a significant proportion of the Group’s revenues for the year ended 30 June 2016.

Haydale recently reported on a presentation given at the recent Advanced Functional & Industrial Printing 2016 meeting that describes the development of roll-to-roll gravure printing of biosensors based on electrically conductive graphene structures and adherence proteins.

The described development was a result of a project undertaken by a consortium of organizations lead by the Frauhofer Institut fur Biomedizinische Technik (IBMT) and involving Haydale in the development of biocompatible and electrically conductive graphene ink suited for gravure printing. The next stage of this project is to validate the performance of the biosensors in a series of target applications.

Haydale announced financial results for the second half of 2015 (H1 FY2016). Total income rose to £800,000 (up 63% from the second half of 2014) and the net loss after tax was £1.9 million (up from £1.5 million in H2 2014).

Haydale also reports significant (£500,000) R&D investment particularly in respect of graphene enhanced resins for the composite markets. At the end of December 2015, cash at hand was £5.0 million (up from £2.0 million at the end of June 2014 following Haydale's recent fund raising).

Haydale is developing, along with BAC Mono, a graphene-enhanced body panel for BAC's single seat road car. The graphene-enhanced epoxy resin has reportedly delivered increased strength and a "significant weight and cost reduction".

BAC representatives stated that "At BAC we focus heavily on innovation and we were delighted to work with graphene composite industry leaders Haydale on this project. It marks another world first for BAC and the beginning of a project with a broad range of exciting possibilities."

Haydale's Composite Solutions division (HCS) has announced the launch of three graphene enhanced carbon fibre pre-impregnated (prepreg) products, in collaboration with SHD Composite Materials Ltd (Sleaford, Lincolnshire, UK) using epoxy resins from Huntsman Advanced Materials.

The products to be launched include a structural component carbon fibre prepreg, a prototype Out-of-Autoclave curing carbon fibre tooling prepreg capable of fast composite part production in autoclave processing and a higher operating temperature prepreg for enhanced life and very high accuracy tooling.