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Imagine IM opens Australia's first graphene plant

28 Jul '16

2 min read

Imagine Intelligent Materials (Imagine IM), the leading Australian developer of graphene-based coatings for industrial textiles and fibres, has opened Australia's first commercial graphene plant in Geelong.

The pilot plant is expected to produce up to 10 tonnes of graphene per year. It was built for Imagine IM by Geelong-based engineering company, Australian Engineering Solutions Pty. Ltd ('Austeng').

Graphene is a revolutionary two-dimensional, atomic scale carbon material with unmatched properties and is expected to revolutionise industry and consumer products over the next 20 years. It is widely seen as a new platform material for advanced manufacturing, with applications including; electronics, fashion and sports wearable technology, mining, water conservation and purification, automotive structures, and energy storage.

Imagine IM has developed a graphene coating technology that enables the production of a world-first conductive geotextile that will be manufactured and launched into the Australian marketplace by Victorian-based Geofabrics Australasia later in 2016.

Chris Gilbey, CEO of Imagine IM said, “Imagine IM's focus is on developing applications that utilise the amazing properties of graphene to enable the manufacture of transformative smart textiles, fibres and membranes. The challenge is to enable integration into manufacturing and to deliver product at scale. Our initial pilot plant will serve the needs of Geofabrics over the next two years and will provide sufficient graphene for other products that are currently in R&D. The commissioning of this plant positions Imagine IM as one of the few graphene companies anywhere in the world with a path to market. Geelong can now consider itself the Graphene capital of Australia.”

Ross George, MD of Austeng said, “We were determined to be involved in bringing graphene manufacturing to Geelong by fabricating Australia's first commercial graphene manufacturing plant for Imagine IM. We love the vision that Imagine IM has and believe that building Imagine IM's initial plant will lead to Austeng developing the skills and knowledge to build further plants that will be exported to the world.” (GK)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India