Imagine IM opened Australia’s first commercial-scale graphene manufacturing plant in 2016. The company, working with Geofabrics Australasia, has helped developed the world’s first graphene-enhanced geotextile. A graphene-based materials conference, dedicated to smart technologies, will be held August 17 at Swinburne University (Australia) and explore manufacturing opportunities.
What has been learned in the geosynthetics field will provide participants an exemplary story.
The conference is connected to the larger Graphene Supply Chain CRC-P research initiative, of which Imagine Intelligent Materials is the lead industry partner with Swinburne University. The research centre will be officially opened on August 17 in conjunction with the graphene-based materials conference.
GRAPHENE-BASED MATERIALS CONFERENCE
Imagine IM has focused on how the fast-growing Internet of Things beneficially impacts markets, smart product delivery, global access, and upward-looking margins in manufacturing.
The Internet of Smart Materials Conference will focus on how Australian manufacturers, researchers and investors can be big winners by focusing on this Factories and Worksites market segment. Advanced graphene-based materials capture and communicate useful data that enables differentiated products and processes for better value in global supply chains.
The commercial benefits of graphene will be outlined during the event and case studies will presented. The scope of immediate opportunities that the presentations will highlight includes:
- Delivery of leak detection in dams and containment ponds (important in coal seam gas mining)
- Structural integrity reporting in mine walls (important for safety in underground mining)
- Sensing traffic movements through smart roads
- Fabric sensors and switches for smart cars
- Ultimately smart textiles for medical health, clothing, and homes.
Examples to be presented include two successful installations, totaling over 10,000 m2, of geotextiles coated with graphene-based imgne® X3 product made by Geofabrics Australasia. This product enables electronic detection of holes as small as 1 mm in the lining of a coal seam gas evaporation pond, helping ensure that toxic materials do not pollute groundwater and aquifers.
Professor Bronwyn Fox, Director of the Factory of the Future at Swinburne University, said,
“Swinburne is excited to be partnered with Imagine Intelligent Materials, Austeng, Agilent, Duromer and HRL on the Graphene Supply Chain CRC-P project,” said Prof. Bronwyn Fox, Director of the Factory of the Future at Swinburne University. “Our research on understanding structure performance relationships in graphene products will help to create robust supply chains for graphene-enabled products that meet industry and investor goals for manufacturability at scale.”
“Geofabrics has a rich history in bringing innovative construction products through to the civil infrastructure sector, and the ability to develop smart products, with capability around data, is very exciting,” said Brendan Swifte, Managing Director of Geofabrics Australasia. “Our recent success utilizing graphene to enable leak detection demonstrates to our customers how we continue to drive innovation in industrial textiles. There are huge numbers of sensors out there today and, no doubt, more coming, but in my eyes, graphene offers a way to ‘jump’ over the current sensor technology and have the products themselves become the sensor-enabling end users to rapidly improve productivity and safety.”
For conference details and registration information, visit the EventBrite page.
For more information on graphene-based materials, visit www.imgne.com.
For information on graphene-enhanced geotextiles, visit www.geofabrics.co/products/bidim-c-range.
