MATERIALS | NANOCOMPOSITES
Right: Gerdau Graphene’s commercial Poly-G
masterbatch has been
pilot-tested in industrial wrap applications, including stretch film production at Brazilian packaging group Pack- seven
Mississauga in Ontario in Canada and Houston in Texas in the US. A new demonstration plant at Burlington, also in Ontario, is expected to commence startup during the 4th quarter of 2023 and is designed to produce up to around one tonne of graphene a day when fully operational. UMI acquired UK-company Applied Graphene Materials in March 2023, renaming it Universal Mattters GBR, and is expanding dispersion capacity and capability at the UK site. This expansion is
IMAGE: GERDAU GRAPHENE
properties,” he explains. Black Swan’s graphene is
already being used commercially as an additive in both concrete and polymers. In both markets, the additive is said to enhance sustainability by reducing carbon emissions. In polymers, the improvement in mechanical properties can support light- weighting of parts. The company sees potential in the automotive sector, and particularly in electric vehicles, where interest in light-weighting is
expected to be completed late this year and will accelerate the company’s capabilities to produce graphene-based dispersions, says Kefalos.
Valuable graphene Canada-based Black Swan Graphene’s Graph- Core bulk graphene nanoplatelet powder is designed to be incorporated into masterbatches or compounds as a property-enhancing additive. “We aim to bring a graphene product to the market that can provide value to the customer by fitting in to the existing supply chain,” says Michael Edwards, Chief Operating Officer and Director of the company. “Our graphene nano-particles are multi-layer
rather than single-layer or a few layers, so they are not intended for electrical conductivity enhance- ment in polymers. They do, however, provide multi-functional benefits including thermal conduc- tivity, water barrier, and particularly mechanical
intensifying due to its ability to reduce carbon emissions and increase vehicle range. It says the additive can benefit parts in nearly every part of the vehicle—wire and cable, under the hood, sealing systems, interior, exterior, and chassis. Black Swan says it worked with the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) in Manches- ter in the UK to identify appropriate loadings for polymer applications and says it is now working with compounders who typically have customers with specific needs that can be met with the additive. “The technology has evolved to the point that these compounders have grown in the sophistication to process graphene and disperse it properly,” says Edwards. The GraphCore additive is being used in TPU,
PC, and HDPE and is also being tested in PP and PLA. “In PLA, we found a more than 40% reduction in water vapour transmission compared to the standard formulation. And in PP with 2.5% Graph-
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