Story highlights
- Imagine IM has licensing agreement with Geofabrics Australasia Pty Limited to incorporate graphene coating technology for applications in geotextiles.
- imgne® X3 is a graphene-based coating that enables enhanced conductivity in textiles
- Applications include heightened leak location and improved construction quality assurance (CQA) for lining systems in landfills, mining, wastewater treatment plants, reservoirs, industrial processing facilities, dams, and other containment projects.
- The company expects to realize its first revenues from sales and licensing of the imgne® X3 masterbatch in Q1 2017.
September 6th 2016- Imagine IM has announced that the first field trial in Australia for conductive geotextiles enhanced with graphene have been a success. The company, which built Australia’s first commercial scale graphene production plant this year, has worked with Australia’s largest geosynthetics manufacturer (Geofabrics Australasia) to create this new type of geotextile.
The trial was conducted August 18 in Melbourne. The geotextiles, which was coated with imgne® X3 masterbatch, was tested by ExcelPlas, a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited facility.
The field trials were conducted using standard commercial 2mm thick HDPE geomembrane in a two-layer configuration, ensuring maximum electrical insulation of the tested geomembrane from the earth. This is the most difficult condition for electrical leak detection. Testing was to ASTM standards D6747-04 and D7852-13 using 2m wide, 25m long samples of imgne® X3 conductive geotextile, coated on one side only. Deliberate, controlled holes were drilled in the geomembrane from 5mm diameter down to 1mm diameter.
The field trials confirmed that leaks down to 1 mm hole size—the minimum size tested—were able to be detected in the imgne® X3 coated geotextiles using normal testing methodologies and equipment for trials of this kind.
Uniquely, the trial showed that special geotextile panel joining was not needed. The continuous electrical conductivity between adjacent, treated rolls was achieved through a 100 mm overlap of material. Conductivity was even confirmed down to a 10mm overlap. Also, 15kV test voltages produced constant testing sensitivity at earth-lead distances 1 – 20m, even at points with geomembrane deformations. “Reliable results” were even shown at 5kV test voltages and the trial did not produce any false positives.
“In all tests, standard installation techniques were used,” the company writes, “with no special handling or preparation of the imgne® X3 coated X3 conductive geotextile nor the geomembrane nor the ground itself.”
“We developed imgne® X3 as a graphene-based coating that enables delivery of conductivity in textiles and on other materials without impacting the strength and other characteristics of the materials themselves,” said Phillip Aitchison, COO of Imagine IM. “The development of a conductive geotextile as Imagine IM’s first commercial application of imgne® X3 is a major milestone for us. We have now proven our ability to both manufacture graphene at scale, and also to be able to produce masterbatch solutions that will enable large-scale industrial applications using graphene to make smart materials.”
“These results are extremely gratifying,” Chris Gilbey, CEO of Imagine IM added. “The intent of using imgne® X3 is to provide a methodology for making geotextiles conductive that will lead to substantial economies for end users and to make leak detection more affordable and more accurate.”
A larger field trial with Geofabrics Australasia is being planned. Imagine IM expects to realize its first revenues from sales and licensing of the imgne® X3 masterbatch in Q1 2017.
Further information www.imgne.com.
