December 16, 2022 -SALTWIRE: 'Female form' bulletproof armour to be 3D-printed in Dartmouth
Bill Spurr · Multimedia Journalist |
Paul Beasant says the biggest challenge in working with graphene is not taking on too many projects, so incredible is the material’s potential.
Graphene is a form of powdered carbon.
“You don’t make things with graphene, you make other things better with it,” said Beasant, CEO of Nova Graphene, which is working on a $975,000 contract extension from the Department of National Defence to make lightweight ballistic (bullet proof) armour.
“Graphene is a unique form of carbon, just like diamond is a unique form of carbon. There are two main grades … kind of like filet mignon versus ground beef,” said Beasant, adding that the higher grade comes in at two million particles per gram of powder.
“Many of these particles are just one layer, one atom thick, so in its purest form, the thinnest substance known to man.”
The graphene that is the company’s raw material is made through a proprietary, and renewable, process to exfoliate graphite without the use of chemicals. The DND project has the company working to develop 3D printable ballistic plates for use in bulletproof vests.
“What we’re doing is compounding these powders into different materials, specifically nylon and something called PEEK, polyether ether ketone, which is one of the strongest thermal plastics in the world. The graphene, when added, makes it even stronger and better than it was before,” Beasant said. “They’re typically a 10- by 12-inch chest plate, so they’re not the full vest, they’re what goes into the vest.”
Armour used by the military and police officers is “pretty much a standard size,” determined by the U.S.-based National Institute of Justice. Beasant says that is one of the most obvious areas that needs to be improved.
“Our end goal is that we’ll be able to do a body scan of the soldier or law enforcement officer and make sure their chest plate, their helmet, whatever, fits absolutely perfectly. The better the fit, the better the comfort level and mobility, the better your survivability,” he said. “They’re used by females, certainly, but there isn’t any accommodation for the female form. On that front, we’re getting a little extra attention because to be able to fit any body shape, whether you’re small, tall, female, male.”
The cost of a vest ranges from $500-$2,000, depending on brand and whether you’re stopping a handgun bullet or a sniper rifle.
COO Michael Wise said the Nova Graphene vests will be dramatically lighter than those currently on the market, which provides all kinds of benefits.
“Increased endurance, increased mobility, (improved) response time and increased survivability,” Wise said. “So, if we can reduce the weight of their kit, we’re going to contribute to a soldier being more effective in the field.”
A specialized 3D printer is on its way from Israel to Nova Graphene’s office in Burnside at a cost of $50,000.
The company recently finished two other defence-related contracts.
“One was to develop coatings for helicopter rotors that would minimize abrasive wear, and also provide additional UV and chemical resistance,” Beasant said. “The other helicopter thing we did is called a leading-edge strip. The very front edge of the blade is going through the air and obviously gets the most abuse, whether it be from ice pellets or sand or whatever.”
Nova Graphene is also finalizing a contract with Environment Canada to put graphene into tire rubber to minimize tire wear and consequently minimize the microplastics wearing off the tires and going into the environment.
The company employs five people right now, but that’s expected to double in a year.
2022 International Graphene Innovation Conference (‘GrapChina 2022’) in Shanghai.
From November 11-13, Nova Graphene (NG) attended the 2022 International Graphene Innovation Conference (‘GrapChina 2022’) in Shanghai. The 2022 event was the 9th edition of this annual conference of the graphene industry in China. Hosted by the Innovation Alliance of the Graphene Industry (CGIA), GrapChina has become a well-recognized event of the industry for exchanges and discussions on commercial applications of graphene. The conference was also accompanied by a co-located exhibition – International Graphene Application Exhibition (IGA Expo).
NG learned at GrapChina that Consumer Electronics (eg. 5G cellphones) and Energy Storage (eg. Li-ion batteries for Electric Vehicles) are the two biggest market segments of graphene application in China. In the consumer markets, graphene-enabled heating products/systems have been successfully commercialized. Researches on graphene/metal composites and anti-corrosion coatings have also attracted cross-sectoral attention.
The conference provided an excellent opportunity for NG to get connected with the graphene industry in China as well as to obtain first-hand information on the graphene market in China – the biggest manufacturer and user of graphene in the world.
This is the 4th trip to China for NG in an effort to forge a presence and collaborations in the region.
In mid-January 2022, Nova Graphene visited the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province.
Nanjing is the capital city of Jiangsu and is among the Top 10 Cities of highest GDP in China.
Nova Graphene (NG) met with a leading petrochemical products manufacturing group, the local association of paints and coatings industry, and a major innovation promotion body while in Nanjing to explore market opportunities and feasible types of partnership for NG’s graphene products and formulations.
NG observed good interest at the meetings in graphene applications in electrical conduction.
Jiangsu Province is the #2 provincial level economy in China. The province achieved 2021 GDP of USD1818bn, similar to the size of South Korea (2021 projected GDP at USD1824bn). Canada’s 2021 projected GDP was USD2016bn.
NG also visited a small city called Liyang 0.5hr away from Nanjing by high-speed train. Liyang is regarded as a tier-4 city in China (for reference, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhen and Shenzhen are the four tier-1’s) and a part of Greater Changzhou. But nothing is ‘small’ in China. Even Liyang has a population of 788,000. The trip was to study a typical local concrete market in China. NG learned from a major local concrete plant that
- Market size of the city of Changzhou and Liyang combined is 25 million M3/year of concrete, and 10 million M3/year of mortar.
- Market size of concrete in Suzhou + Wuxi + Changzhou (the cities with top GDP in Jiangsu Province): 100 million M3/year.
If graphene can be applied to concrete in an economically feasible way, it can help reduce carbon emissions significantly in Jiangsu Province.
We Went To Shanghai!
The Business Development team of Nova Graphene came to Shanghai, China!
After a three-week long quarantine, I was able to move freely around and had my first meetings in China. I started with visiting the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service in Shanghai, which is based at the Consulate General of Canada.
Boasting a history of 120+ years, TCS is a free business consulting service provided by the Canadian federal government to help Canadian businesses to explore international markets. It has a network of 1000+ Trade Commissioners in 160 cities across Canada and the world. The TCS team in Shanghai has 20+ Trade Commissioners providing services in all major sectors.
At the meetings with the Trade Commissioners (TCs) responsible for Clean Tech, Infrastructure & Building Products, and Transportation, I was impressed with the professionalism of the officers as well as their insights into the markets. Upon my introduction of NG and our R&D activities in graphene applications, TCs shared their views of the market prospect in various applications, market challenges, and the connections they have in the market, which may be of good value to NG.
As a follow up of the meetings, TCS coordinated a video conference between NG and a graphene research institute in East China.
All the services are for free! I look forward to more interactions with TCS to better leverage their knowledge and connections to support our business development efforts in China.
Cheers,
Sandra Jiang