Lyten's Graphene Filament Makes Modovolo's US-Built 3D Printer 50% Tougher

A Graphene Upgrade for Distributed Manufacturing

Supermaterial developer Lyten has been named the primary filament provider for Modovolo's BFP, a modular, containerized large-format 3D printing platform built in the United States for aviation, industrial, motorsports, and defense applications. The deal pairs Lyten's graphene-enhanced PA1205 nylon filament with a printer designed to manufacture aerospace-grade parts almost anywhere they are needed.

What the BFP Actually Is

Modovolo originally built the BFP because it could not find a US-built 3D printer capable of producing aerospace-grade components quickly and affordably for its own drone program. The result was a transportable, modular system that customers can ship and deploy close to where parts are required — instead of centralizing production in distant factories. The pitch is distributed manufacturing: large, high-performance components made near the point of use, while still meeting aerospace quality requirements.

Why PA1205 Matters

PA1205 is a nylon-based filament doped with Lyten's proprietary 3D Graphene technology. According to Lyten, the material delivers:

• 2× the X-Y tensile strength of comparable carbon-fiber filaments
• 40% higher Z-axis tensile strength
• 50% greater impact resistance

Just as important for real-world printing, Lyten says PA1205 prints faster, resists warping, and holds dimensional accuracy during production — the combination that makes it viable for lightweight structural parts where consistency is critical. Modovolo CEO and co-founder Justin Call noted the team tested numerous high-performance materials before settling on Lyten's filament, citing the ability to “print stronger and lighter parts while maintaining a better print finish and speed.”

A Year-Long Relationship

This is not a brand-new pairing. Modovolo has used Lyten filament since 2025 to manufacture components for its Lift Quadcopter-X drone, a lightweight aircraft built for commercial, emergency-response, and defense missions. That track record gave Modovolo the confidence to graduate the BFP from an internal production tool into a full industrial platform. The two companies plan to showcase the integrated system at the Civil-Military Innovation Institute, the Northern Strike exercises, and other aerospace and motorsports events later this year.

The Bigger Play: Local Supply Chains

Both CEOs frame the partnership around reducing dependence on overseas supply chains. Lyten co-founder and CEO Dan Cook said the goal is to “prove better performing, better priced products can be both sourced and manufactured locally.” For makers, the takeaway is more concrete: graphene-enhanced engineering filaments are moving out of the lab and into production-grade, deployable printing systems — and the performance gap with carbon-fiber alternatives is now being quantified in hard double-digit percentages.