Haydale Graphene Industries PLC (LON:HAYD) Chief Executive Officer Ray Gibbs caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the launch of graphene enhanced PLA filaments for 3D printing
Q1: Now Ray, you announced today the launch of graphene enhanced PLA filaments for 3D printing, can you explain to us what PLA filaments are and their potential applications?
A1: They’re known as poly lactic acid, it’s a thermoplastic, and basically you extrude that material into a long string and that becomes the feed stock for the 3D printing. What happens to the film is we get layer upon layer, it’s known as additive manufacturing which is no different from the screen printing inks that we sell in the marketplace today for biomedical centres.
Q2: What do you see as the likely first product to incorporate your graphene filaments?
A2: Well I think we will find a number of users, there are some significant 3D printers and it’s not the hobbyist that make models this is pre-production prototypes in and around the world making very large complex shapes and objects for use in pre-production without having to spend enormous amounts on tooling. There are a growing number of organisations primarily serving the automotive industry for example in the world today.
Q3: When do you expect to see or to receive orders and what sort of quantity are you expecting?
A3: The orders, I think, will happen, we’re expecting to take orders at the show frankly. We’ve done a pre-launch note out, it’s already gone on the website for the TCT Show in Birmingham on the 28th-29th September and we expect to take orders and we’ve no doubt that given what we’ve already done in trialling with a number of companies that there will be a significant take up of interest and we would expect orders to happen from there.
Q4: Is this linked to your recent sponsoring of a Professional Chair at Swansea University?
A4: In a way yes because of course Swansea and WCPC, the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, they do 3D printing in their technology base from chocolate which is very technically difficult to concrete and collagen implants for the medical world, you can 3D print an ear for example if you used certain set of materials. So that’s an area that is of interest clearly but at the moment what we’ve got is our PLA filaments going out into the pre-production prototype agreements for a variety of applications, primarily automotive and associated industries.
Haydale Graphene Industries PLC is a United Kingdom-based company, which has developed a plasma process to functionalize graphene and other nano materials. Functionalistaion is an essential component in the commercialization of graphene. The Company’s subsidiaries include Haydale Limited, which is engaged in research and development, manufacture and sale of surface functionalized graphene products; and Nano Hex (Sales) Limited, which is engaged in sales and distribution.
