The technology will aim to enable users to increase mechanical toughness, through the addition of graphene. This is ultimately designed to improve performance, enable further weight reduction and reduce total manufacturing costs.
The joint development agreement with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (AMRC) will focus on the development and commercial exploitation of Structural Ink technology, through collaboration projects with the AMRC's industry partners.
"While this technology is still relatively immature in aerospace terms, we believe it highlights significant potential for performance improvements with both weight and cost savings to those designing critical composite structures....In the near future we will be sharing information on this technology with our aerospace partners, but also see the potential for early adoption with partners operating in less safety critical industrial sectors", said AMRC representatives.