3D Printing

Lomiko Metals Announce 3D Printing Graphene Patent

3D printing is now beginning to not just rock the world with its potentiality, but its actuality. 3D printed eyes, drones, food, clothes… But a year ago some of the most common terms in reporting upon 3D printing in the mass media were science fiction, future and a sense of magical things in the haze of the horizon. The consistent inconsistency in the thinking of most analysts however — from financial pages particularly — is the rate of change of technology in 2014. Linear thinking regarding the relationship between time and technology betray their exponential nature. The horizon is atop a hill that we are finding ever steeper.

If 3D printing is the wonder technology of the moment, then Graphene is the wonder material, possessing properties that look a little like science fiction themselves. Like graphite, graphene is entirely composed of carbon atoms — 1mm of graphite contains some 3 million layers of graphene. Whereas graphite is a three-dimensional crystalline arrangement, graphene is a two-dimensional crystal only an atom thick. The carbons are perfectly distributed in a hexagonal honeycomb formation only 0.3 nanometres thick, with just 0.1 nanometres between each atom.

Lomiko Metals Inc. has announced that Graphene 3D Lab has reached a milestone by filing a provisional patent application for the use of graphene-enhanced material, along with other materials, in 3D printing. The properties of graphene, including its high conductivity, mechanical strength and high specific surface area, make it an ideal electrode material. A concise overview of generic applications can be found here. An excellent detailed study into the potentials and prospects for graphene can be read in A Road map For Graphene via Nature journal.

“This patent application is the result of a diligent effort on behalf of our team. It opens up a clear path toward the commercialization of graphene,” stated Daniel Stolyarov, Graphene 3D Labs’ CEO. “It is important that our proprietary technology is accepted by consumers in this market and that we find a method of creating graphene-infused filaments of outstanding quality at a reasonable cost. We rely on high quality graphite from Lomiko’s Quatre Milles Property as the base material for producing graphene nanoplatelets, due to their cost and consistency in quality.”

“Lomiko will provide graphite to Graphene 3D Lab as the exclusive supplier,” stated Paul Gill, CEO of Lomiko Metals. “Novel materials based on graphene open new markets for natural graphite; these new markets are expanding at an extraordinary rate. We are happy to participate in the development of this disruptive technology.”

On September 17, 2013, Lomiko and Graphene Labs reported that in the first step of the conversion process of graphite to graphene, natural graphite flakes were oxidised and turned into Graphene Oxide. The method described in the provisional patent application allows consumers to use the polymer, infused with graphene, together with conventional polymers in the same printing process, thereby fabricating functional electronic devices using 3D printing.