Haydale, the global advanced materials group, and its Interim Executive Chairman, David Banks, were pleased to attend the official opening of the £60 million Masdar Building which houses the GEIC at the University of Manchester, UK, of which Haydale is a Tier One partner.

The opening took place on 10 December and saw His Royal Highness, The Duke of York, unveil an official plaque in front of over 140 dignitaries, industry leaders, University staff and academics.

The recently supplied Haydale research plasma reactor was a prominent feature at the event and is due for commissioning in January where it will be available to not only a dedicated Haydale research associate but also GEIC members including the National Physical Laboratory to develop the science of functionalisation and pioneer new advanced materials development.

Haydale’s exhibition stand featured many products enhanced with Haydale’s functionalised graphenes currently being sold in the market, including biomedical sensors, heat sensors, printed inks, graphene enhanced pre-impregnated carbon fibre composites and mould tooling, plus its newly launched anti-counterfeit technology, PATit. Haydale generated over £1.0 million of sales from its graphene enhanced products and services in its last financial year.

Additionally, Haydale’s functionalised graphenes were on display throughout the exhibition by some of its customers and collaboration partners where its technology has been used to enhance a range of products, including:

  • BAC (Briggs Automotive Company)Ltd displayed its supercar, the BAC Mono, which features a graphene enhanced rear diffuser developed by Haydale. As previously announced, Haydale is now working with BAC to design and develop a number of other graphene enhanced body panels for the BAC Mono supercar
  • The University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) displayed its graphene skinned UAV, which is enhanced by Haydale’s functionalised graphene. The drone demonstrates the capabilities of graphene to address issues within the UAV market, such as lightning strikes, de-icing and light weighting

Other new innovative concepts on display incorporating or expecting to incorporate Haydale’s graphene products included:

  • A substantial infrastructure concept was also on display by Zero E Technologies Inc, a Denver-based company which is collaborating with Haydale, to promote a project to use graphene and other Haydale advanced materials to create a desalination platform that uses heat pumps to generate energy and clean drinking water from the ocean’s warm water. The GEIC will also be involved in the initial proof of concept phase.The project is expected to incorporate graphene coated structures, heat exchangers, plus the already proven Zero E revolutionary motor. The concept is attracting significant interest in the Middle East, which is looking for clean water supply and an energy source to reduce reliance on oil
  • A heated inner glove being promoted by Michelle Hua, the Manchester Ambassador of Women of Wearables, a global network supporting women in wearable tech, fashion tech, and IoT. Haydale Taiwan supplied its conductive graphene ink to produce a flexible, stretchable heater insert, stable at 26°C and for use in combating Raynaud’s disease
  • A 3D robotic hand was displayed demonstrating outstanding flexibility and dexterity. The hand had been 3D printed and built by Haosen Yang, a master’s student at Manchester University,and Dr Li Ren, Reader at Manchester University, using Haydale’s graphene enhanced PLA 3D filaments. The graphene enhanced PLA material provided additional lubricity for the fingers, enhancing performance against the previous (non-graphene) parts

In addition, Haydale and GEIC applications engineers are collaborating with two of Haydale’s existing customers on projects to incorporate Haydale’s functionalised graphenes and its silicon carbide micro fibres:

  • AB Dynamics Plc – approached Haydale with respect to their test platforms for their Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and using enhanced composites/ceramics for its soft-crash vehicle programmes
  • Wheelsure Holdings Plc – on the development of “smart” bolt/nut systems using Haydale’s graphene pressure sensor technology

David Banks, Interim Executive Chairman at Haydale, said: “I would like to congratulate the University of Manchester on the official opening of the Masdar Building. It was an honour to attend this prestigious event and it was fantastic to see an array of Haydale’s technologies featured within the various products that were on display in the exhibition. It is important that Haydale’s technology is advancing the industry and I look forward to Haydale continuing to work with the GEIC and it’s collaboration partners to accelerate the commercialisation of graphene.”