Cost analysis done for the project say that carbon fibre sells for around $15 per pound in the United States, and the team, which includes researchers from Penn State, the University of Virginia and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in collaboration with industry partners Solvay and Oshkosh, wants to reduce that to $5 per pound by making changes to the complex production process. A lower production cost will increase carbon fibre’s potential applications. Further, the team’s research may lower the cost of producing other types of carbon fibres, some of which sell for up to $900 per pound today.

Currently, most carbon fibres are produced from a polymer known as polyacrylonitrile, or PAN, and it is pretty costly. The price of PAN makes up about 50% of the production cost of carbon fibres.

Małgorzata Kowalik, researcher in Penn State’s Department of Mechanical Engineering

PAN is used to create 90% of carbon fibres found in the market today, but its production requires an enormous amount of energy. First, PAN fibres have to be heated to 200-300 degrees Celsius to oxidize them. Next, they must be heated to 1,200-1,600 degrees Celsius to transform the atoms into carbon. Finally, they have to be heated to 2,100 degrees Celsius so that the molecules are aligned properly. Without this series of steps, the resulting material would lack its needed strength and stiffness.

The team reported in a recent issue of Science Advances that adding trace amounts of graphene to the first stages of this process allowed the team to create a carbon fibre that had 225% greater strength and 184% greater stiffness than the conventionally made PAN-based carbon fibres.

The flat structure of graphene helps to align PAN molecules consistently throughout the fibre, which is needed in the production process. Further, at high temperatures, graphene edges have a natural catalytic property so that the rest of PAN condenses around these edges.

With the new knowledge gained from this study, the team is exploring ways to further use graphene in this production process using cheaper precursors, with a goal of cutting out one or more of the production steps altogether, thereby reducing costs even more.

The post Adding Graphene to Carbon Fibre Could Make it More Affordable appeared first on Composites Today.

ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd in Canada has partnered with Graphene Composites to develop a virucidal graphene-based composite ink that can be applied to fabrics including N95 face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for significantly increased protection.

Under the collaboration, Graphene Composites have devised a silver nanoparticle/graphene oxide ink formulation that ZEN has synthesised at their lab in Guelph, Ontario, that has been documented by previous researchers to kill earlier versions of coronavirus.

Once testing is completed, the GC/ZEN graphene ink would be incorporated into a fabric to be included in masks and filters designed by Graphene Composites.  Efficacy testing of the silver-graphene oxide-based ink to kill the COVID 19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) will be conducted at the University of Western Ontario ImPaKT Facility Biosafety Level 3 lab. In addition, the graphene ink will be tested to kill influenza A and B viruses at Biosafety Level 2 labs in the UK and US.

Graphene Composites has also announced an alliance with G-Form, an athletic protective gear manufacturer in the USA who pivoted its Smithfield, RI. manufacturing plant to the production of PPE face shields and has already produced more than 1 million units.

No solution currently exists to effectively pre-treat athletic equipment, apparel or footwear prior to practices and games. This pre-treatment will not only absorb Coronavirus droplets, it will eliminate them. This also applies to gyms and fitness centres throughout the world. Developing this added layer of protection is the very essence of why and how these companies with Rhode Island roots are working together.

The products are being tested at leading Universities and laboratories in both the UK & US, with patents pending. Once complete and successful, EPA approvals and production will immediately follow.

The post Graphene-Based Composite Ink Being Tested for use on PPE and Sports Equipment appeared first on Composites Today.

Flash graphene is made in 10 milliseconds by heating carbon-containing materials to 3,000 Kelvin (about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit). The source material can be nearly anything with carbon content. Food waste, plastic waste, petroleum coke, coal, wood clippings and biochar are prime candidates.

A concentration of as little as 0.1% of flash graphene in the cement used to bind concrete could lessen its massive environmental impact by a third. Production of cement reportedly emits as much as 8% of human-made carbon dioxide every year.

This is a big deal, the world throws out 30% to 40% of all food, because it goes bad, and plastic waste is of worldwide concern. We’ve already proven that any solid carbon-based matter, including mixed plastic waste and rubber tires, can be turned into graphene.

By strengthening concrete with graphene, less concrete needs to be used for building, and it would cost less to manufacture and less to transport by trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane that waste food would have emitted in landfills. Those carbons are being converted into graphene and added to concrete, thereby lowering the amount of carbon dioxide generated in concrete manufacture.

Turning trash to treasure is key to the circular economy, graphene acts both as a 2D template and a reinforcing agent that controls cement hydration and subsequent strength development.

In the past graphene has been too expensive to use in these applications however, manufacturing graphene using the flash process will greatly lessen the price while it helps improve waste management.

The process aligns with Rice University’s recently announced Carbon Hub initiative to create a zero-emissions future that repurposes hydrocarbons from oil and gas to generate hydrogen gas and solid carbon with zero emission of carbon dioxide. The flash graphene process can convert that solid carbon into graphene for concrete, asphalt, buildings, cars, clothing and more.

Flash Joule heating for bulk graphene, developed in the Tour lab by Rice graduate student and lead author Duy Luong, improves upon techniques like exfoliation from graphite and chemical vapour deposition on a metal foil that require much more effort and cost to produce just a little graphene.

The process produces turbostratic graphene, with misaligned layers that are easy to separate. A-B stacked graphene from other processes, like exfoliation of graphite, is very hard to pull apart. The layers adhere strongly together but turbostratic graphene is much easier to work with because the adhesion between layers is much lower. They just come apart in solution or upon blending in composites.

The lab noted that used coffee grounds transformed into pristine single-layer sheets of graphene. Bulk composites of graphene with plastic, metals, plywood, concrete and other building materials would be a major market for flash graphene, according to the researchers, who are already testing graphene-enhanced concrete and plastic.

The flash process happens in a custom-designed reactor that heats material quickly and emits all noncarbon elements as gas. When this process is industrialised, elements like oxygen and nitrogen that exit the flash reactor can all be trapped as small molecules because they have value.

The flash process produces very little excess heat, channelling almost all of its energy into the target. You can put your finger on the container a few seconds afterwards because with the flash process, the heat is concentrated in the carbon material and not in a surrounding reactor.

All the excess energy comes out as light, in a very bright flash, and because there aren’t any solvents, it’s a super clean process

The researchers hope to produce a kilogram (2.2 pounds) a day of flash graphene within two years, starting with a project recently funded by the Department of Energy to convert U.S.-sourced coal. This could provide an outlet for coal in large scale by converting it inexpensively into a much-higher-value building material.

A grant from the Department of Energy has been awarded to scale up the flash graphene process which will be co-funded by the start-up company, Universal Matter Ltd.

The post Researchers transform Garbage into Graphene appeared first on Composites Today.

A significant focus has been devoted to producing thermoplastic and thermosetting systems with amalgamations of a range of mechanical and functional properties. These include; improved strength and stiffness, increased thermal and electrical conductivity, enhanced barrier properties, fire retardation and others. Progress has been made in identifying and developing the appropriate incorporation processing techniques capable of delivering these property enhancements. Indeed, in this area, a number of companies have already started/are close to launching graphene-enhanced thermoplastic and thermosetting materials to market. This is a promising area in the near term as the underlying processing technologies have reached the required level of maturity and there is little need for additional equipment for prospective manufacturers. This knowledge and the low capital expenditure requirements result in minimal barriers to entry.

The incorporation of graphene-related materials into conventional elastomeric compounds can significantly augment a number of their desirable properties. Traditionally in certain elastomer components, there was a need to trade off/compromise between the wear resistance and application-specific functionality. The addition of graphene has been shown to enhance the properties of the elastomer to the extent that the wear resistance and performance functionality can both be greatly improved. Additionally, the improvement of the materials’ electrical and thermal conductivity is beneficial for a number of their applications. Some graphene-enhanced elastomers are commercially available and have been processed into products. These include high-performance sports shoes, bicycle tyres, recycled mats and many others.

Inorganic composites including ceramics and metal matrix composites is another promising materials sector with significant potential to benefit from graphene and related materials. Academia has shown that a plethora of mechanical and functional benefits could be achieved in suitable inorganic composite systems. These benefits include; improved hardness, enhanced fracture toughness, increased strength and stiffness, superior wear resistance and conductivity. There are many applications for these nanocomposites in a range of industrial sectors. The incorporation and processing techniques for these materials have not yet reached the same level of maturity as the aforementioned systems. Considering the combination of ‘market pull’ and ‘academic push’ this area could also be very promising in the near future.

The challenges Graphene faces to become integrated with Composites

The term “composites” encompasses a vast range of different material technologies each of which has distinct processing procedures and production parameters. Each of these systems brings its own unique technical challenges to ensure appropriate 2D material incorporation. The following are some of the key technical and logistical challenges facing graphene and other 2D materials in the composite domain area.

In order to achieve the desired reinforcement, the nanomaterials must have the appropriate microstructure and interfacial properties to promote ideal bonding and stress transfer with the matrix. The challenge is identifying the right graphene material capable of providing the desired reinforcement for the specific system. Graphene materials available on the market can differ greatly in terms of their lateral size, aspect ratio, defect density and surface functional groups. Materials often require modification in order to alter the aspect ratio and lateral dimensions as well as functionalisation procedures to ensure that the appropriate chemical groups are available for effective matrix bonding. This is a significant challenge, there is no one solution that fits all, and therefore it is a challenge for material scientists to constantly iterate.

A validation service was launched by some members of the Graphene Flagship which could provide some independent authentication and assessment of different graphene material supplies, the consistency of supply and performance in the variety of relevant material systems.

Additionally, to attain the potential property enhancements, the incorporation process of the nanomaterials into the matrix system is often critical. Achieving a homogeneous dispersion and ideal orientation of the nanomaterial is a particular challenge for the relevant range of composite materials and is often affected by the interfacial interactions. Graphene’s reinforcement abilities are dependent on the number of layers and therefore in some systems, it can be beneficial to use high shear processing techniques to exfoliate and disperse the materials in situ. This opportunity is not available in other systems due to the phases and processing procedures deployed. It is often necessary to apply pre-processing treatments to the 2D materials prior to the dispersion to ensure they are in a state capable of achieving the enhancements.

If you have read this far, you are starting to understand the complexity of engineering these nanocomposite systems and the myriad of parameters involved. An additional challenge is solving the knowledge gap in the 2D materials space. As mentioned before, the composites sector spans a wide range of materials industries each of which will have unique opportunities, technical issues and novel solutions. A challenge for the composites sector is identifying the people and projects with the expertise to drive the nanocomposite field forward.

One of the unique selling points of graphene to the composites industry is that significant property enhancements can be achieved at low nanomaterial loadings, often in the range of 0.1-5 weight per cent. This is also beneficial as graphene is still a relatively expensive material and therefore the loadings must be low enough that a financial margin is present. Although the loading levels are low, some application areas such as the concrete industry, for example, use millions of tons of material annually. Even at low loadings of 0.1 weight per cent, in order to be applied at scale, manufacturers would need more than the current global graphene production capacity. A challenge for the industry is to ensure that the production capacity is in place and consistent enough for the scale-up of bulk composite materials applications.

Finally, but not exhaustively, certain composite manufacturers operate in highly regulated application areas. They may often face individual and unique challenges in introducing new nanomaterials into their existing products. This is a more nuanced issue; however, organizations and experts are often available in each field to guide companies to drive their products through the regulatory process and into the market.

The most promising Graphene Composite products currently on the market

Graphene enhanced composite products have been launched to market in a number of different application areas. Many of these products have been successful in gaining market share and providing application-specific enhancements relative to their conventional alternatives. The following are some of the promising graphene-enhanced composite products on the market in accordance with their application areas.

In the automotive sector, a number of products are now commercially available from a range of suppliers. Graphene enhanced polyurethane foams were produced by one supplier that is more thermally stable, reduce cabin noise (improved acoustic attenuation) and improved mechanical properties. This component has now been incorporated into over a million cars. One company already has graphene-enhanced carbon fibre pre-pregs available for purchase. A high-end sports car manufacturer has produced a track car with graphene-enhanced composite panels using these pre-preg material systems. The incorporation of graphene improves the strength and allows the manufacturer to greatly reduce the weight. This should simultaneously improve application performance and reduce fuel consumption/GHG emissions.

The high-end sporting equipment sector has also seen some disruptive graphene composite products launched into their market. A tyre manufacturer has produced graphene-enhanced elastomer bicycle tyres to enhance the performance and improve the wear resistance. One company has successfully launched a range of graphene-enhanced sports shoe products tailored for activities such as running and hiking. Another company was able to produce graphene-enhanced mats from 80% recycled rubber with the properties of the virgin material. A number of companies have launched graphene-enhanced sporting goods such as tennis rackets and fishing rods. They have capitalised on the enhanced strength and stiffness from the nanomaterial additives to reduce the weight of the components and improve the performance.

The built environment/construction sector is also starting to see products launched to the market and high profile in situ testing for certain systems. One company has produced a graphene-enhanced bitumen composite for longer enduring road surfaces. This has the potential to greatly improve road quality by reducing pothole incidence, which in turn should reduce maintenance costs and associated injuries. Graphene enhanced coatings for the protection of composite systems have been developed and launched to the market by a number of producers which could greatly reduce corrosion degradation. Graphene enhanced concrete products are not yet commercially available; however, this is a promising product due to the significant environmental and financial savings that could be achieved with nanomaterials.

The post Graphene for Composite Applications appeared first on Composites Today.

The multidisciplinary team involved researchers from academic institutions, business enterprises such as Nanesa and Avanzare, and large transportation end-user industries, such as Airbus and Fiat. They showed that integrating graphene and related materials (GRMs) into fibre-reinforced composites (FRCs) has great potential to improve weight and strength, and helps to overcome the bottlenecks limiting the applications of these composites in planes, cars, wind turbines and more. Nowadays, the transportation industry is responsible for nearly one-third of global energy demand, and it is the major source of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas. Scientists are therefore continually trying to develop new materials to lower fuel usage and CO₂ emissions, helping to mitigate environmental damage and climate change

Graphene-integrated composites are an example of lighter materials with great potential for use in vehicle frameworks. They are constructed by introducing graphene sheets, a few billionths of a metre thick, into hierarchical fibre composites as a nano-additives. Hierarchical fibre composites are a type of composite material in which components of different sizes are combined in a controlled way to significantly improve the mechanical properties. They typically consist of micro- or mesoscopic carbon fibres, a few millionths of a metre thick, attached to a polymer matrix, and they are already used as building materials to make vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

Graphene’s high aspect ratio, high flexibility and mechanical strength enable it to enhance the strength of weak points in these composites, such as at the interface between two different components. Its tunable surface chemistry also means that interactions with the carbon fibre and polymer matrix can be adjusted as needed. The fibre, polymer matrix and graphene layers all work together to distribute mechanical stress, resulting in a material with improved strength and other beneficial properties.

There are many challenges to consider. For instance, planes experience temperature changes between 20 °C and -40 °C every time they take off and land, with huge differences in pressure and humidity. Graphene-integrated composites, therefore, need to withstand water condensing and even freezing inside the fuselage. They also need to endure lightning strikes, which happen several times per month, so the conductive properties of graphene must be harnessed to create an electrically conductive framework that resists electromagnetic impulses. In cars, new structural materials must be able to withstand crash tests and be lightweight enough to ensure fuel efficiency. Graphene Flagship researchers are also investigating conductive materials to replace circuitry in-car dashboards.

The group’s partners at Queen Mary University and the National Graphene Institute, UK, FORTH-Hellas, Greece, CNR, Italy, and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, collaborated with researchers at the University of Turin, the University of Trento and KET-LAB, Italy, and the University of Patras, Greece, to provide perspectives from the research community. They worked with scientists at Graphene Flagship partner companies Nanesa, Italy, and Avanzare, Spain, to review the technological viability of graphene-incorporated FRCs.

Airbus and Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles have evaluated the impact of graphene-incorporated FRCs on the aerospace and automotive industries and assessed their commercial viability.

We all know that the aeronautical sector is very challenging for the introduction of new materials or technologies. Airbus is committed to making graphene-related materials fly as soon as possible, and a step-by-step approach is being set up. Tamara Blanco-Varela, co-author and materials & processes engineer at Airbus

By selecting ‘quick-win’ applications with immediate benefits to the aerospace industry, Airbus anticipates that graphene-integrated FRCs will reach the market soon. One example is using these materials for anti- and de-icing purposes in aeroplanes, for which Airbus will be leading activities targeting commercial exploitation of this technology. The company is hoping for it to reach a high maturity level, with a target readiness level between five and six, in the next few years.

Brunetto Martorana, researcher at Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, adds: “The interesting structural properties of graphene have opened an interesting window for designing novel light composites.” He explains that new lightweight composite materials do not necessarily need to be lower in strength and introduce safety issues. “New approaches must be found to enhance the ‘crashworthiness’ of composites – and graphene composites may be able to fill that role,” he continues. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles have now committed to the commercialization of new composite materials, and will be leading a new initiative to bring this technology to market.”

The post Academia and Industry Team up to Make Lighter Graphene-integrated Composites appeared first on Composites Today.

Graphene is the lightest and strongest carbon modification. Moreover, it has very high electrical conductivity. Because of these characteristics, graphene is often included in the composition of new ceramic-based materials. Ceramics are resistant to high temperatures, and, if carbon modifications are added, the composites become multifunctional. In the future, they can be used in the production of flexible electronic devices, sensors, in construction and aviation.

It is known from many experimental studies of such composites that their mechanic characteristics are set by the graphene proportion in the composition and by the size of graphene plates allocated in the ceramic matrix. For example, in the case of low graphene concentration, high crack resistance was achieved with the help of long plates. However, in one of the recent experiments of synthesis of materials from alumina ceramics and graphene the opposite effect was shown: as the plates were bigger, the crack resistance was weaker. The researches from Saint Petersburg have developed a theoretical model that explains this paradox.

The physicists of the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Center of the National Technology Initiative (NTI) of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University supposed that the formation of cracks in the composites is connected with the boundaries of so-called ceramic grains – microscopic crystals that form the material. Graphene plates in the composites can be located both at the boundaries of ceramic grains and inside grains. In the course of the tensile deformation of nanocrystalline materials, the grains slide relative to each other, and the cracks spread over their boundaries. But why do graphene additions stop this process in some cases and not stop it in others? To find the answer, the scientists developed a mathematical model that takes into account the tensile load, the force of friction, elastic moduli of the composite, and the correlation between the dimensions of ceramic grains and graphene plates. With the help of the model, the scientists computed the critical values of the stress intensity factor for three different composites. When these values were exceeded, cracks spread all over in the material. The composites varied in the size of ceramic grains (from 1.23 to 1.58 micrometres) and the length and width of graphene plates (from 193 to 1070 and from 109 to 545 nanometers).

It was found that the closer the length of graphene plates to the length of grain boundary lines, the lower the critical value of the stress intensity factor. The value difference for different materials comes up to 20%. It is congruent to experimental data published earlier: just at close values of grain boundary length and the length of graphene plates, the crack resistance of the material dropped. This implies that to make the material stronger, graphene plates must be substantially smaller in length that ceramic grains.

“The found regularity is valid for fine-grained ceramics, and, after all, by reducing the grain size, the creators of new composite materials add more functionality to them,” explains Alexander Sheinerman, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, the head of research laboratory “The Mechanics of New Nanomaterials” of the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Center of the National Technology Initiative NTI SPbPU. “Therewith, the effects of grain refinement can be contradictory, for example, the hardness rises, but the material becomes more fragile. Our model helps to pick the correlation of the graphene plate size and the size of grains, which provide better mechanic and functional characteristics.

The post Physicists Find Weak Spots in Ceramic Graphene Composites appeared first on Composites Today.

The discovery published online in the journal Science was made by post-doctoral associates and undergraduate students and is a “major advance in the field” said Manish Chhowalla, professor and associate chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Rutgers’ School of Engineering.

This simple microwave treatment leads to exceptionally high quality graphene with properties approaching those in pristine graphene.

Having undergraduates as co-authors of a Science paper is rare but he said “the Rutgers Materials Science and Engineering Department and the School of Engineering at Rutgers cultivate a culture of curiosity driven research in students with fresh ideas who are not afraid to try something new.’’

Graphene, which comes from graphite, a carbon-based material is 100 times stronger than steel and conducts electricity better than copper rapidly dissipating and heat, making it useful for many applications. Large-scale production of graphene is necessary for applications such as printable electronics, electrodes for batteries and catalysts for fuel cells.

The easiest way to make large quantities of graphene is to exfoliate graphite into individual graphene sheets by using chemicals. The downside of this approach is that side reactions occur with oxygen – forming graphene oxide that is electrically non-conducting, which makes it less useful for products.

Removing oxygen from graphene oxide to obtain high-quality graphene has been a major challenge over the past two decades for the scientific community working on graphene. Oxygen distorts the pristine atomic structure of graphene and degrades its properties.

Chhowalla and his group members found that baking the exfoliated graphene oxide for just one-second in a 1,000-watt microwave oven, like those used in households across America, can eliminate virtually all of the oxygen from graphene oxide.

The post Researchers use Microwaves to Produce Graphene appeared first on Composites Today.

The car which was showcased at the Science in the City festival in Manchester is made by the Briggs Automotive Company in Liverpool who are trialling the new lightweight material for use in its single-seater Mono sports car.

The graphene-enhanced resin used on this project is stronger than traditional materials, which has enabled the reduction in the amount of fibres in the composite material, resulting in a significant weight and cost reduction.

James Baker, graphene business director at The University of Manchester, said:

The graphene car is an excellent example of how graphene can be incorporated into existing products to improve performance. It shows that graphene is having a real world impact just 12 years after it was isolated.

BAC worked with Carmarthenshire based Haydale Composite Solutions on the trial, which used graphene-enhanced carbon fibre, and focused on the rear arches because of their size and complexity, which allowed the material and manufacturing process to be thoroughly tested.

The company’s proprietary process disperses graphene within the resin matrix, exceeding the performance specifications of the part, while making significant savings in mass with reductions of approximately 20%. This has clear implications for cost, performance and fuel economy in vehicles if applied widely in the manufacturing process.

The post BAC Mono First Car to Use Graphene Composites appeared first on Composites Today.

Adapting an old trick used for centuries by both metal-smiths and pastry makers, a team of researchers at MIT has found a way to efficiently create composite materials containing hundreds of layers that are just atoms thick but span the full width of the material.

Materials such as graphene, a two-dimensional form of pure carbon, and carbon nanotubes, tiny cylinders that are essentially rolled-up graphene, are some of the strongest, hardest materials available, because their atoms are held together entirely by carbon-carbon bonds, which are the strongest nature gives us for chemical bonds to work with. So, researchers have been searching for ways of using these nano-materials to add great strength to composite materials, much the way steel bars are used to reinforce concrete.

The biggest obstacle has been finding ways to embed these materials within a matrix of another material in an orderly way. These tiny sheets and tubes have a strong tendency to clump together, so just stirring them into a batch of liquid resin before it sets doesn’t work at all. The MIT team’s insight was in finding a way to create large numbers of layers, stacked in a perfectly orderly way, without having to stack each layer individually.

Although the process is more complex than it sounds, at the heart of it is a technique similar to that used to make ultra-strong steel sword blades, as well as the puff pastry that’s in baklava and napoleons. A layer of material made of either steel, dough, or graphene is spread out flat. Then, the material is doubled over on itself, pounded or rolled out, and then doubled over again, and again, and again.

With each fold, the number of layers doubles, thus producing an exponential increase in the layering. Just 20 simple folds would produce more than a million perfectly aligned layers.

Now, it doesn’t work out exactly that way on the nanoscale. In this research, rather than folding the material, the team cut the whole block — itself consisting of alternating layers of graphene and the composite material — into quarters, and then slid one-quarter on top of another, quadrupling the number of layers, and then repeating the process. But the result was the same: a uniform stack of layers, quickly produced, and already embedded in the matrix material, in this case polycarbonate, to form a composite.

In their proof-of-concept tests, the MIT team produced composites with up to 320 layers of graphene embedded in them. They were able to demonstrate that even though the total amount of the graphene added to the material was minuscule — less than 1/10 of a percent by weight — it led to a clear-cut improvement in overall strength.

The team also found a way to make structured fibres from graphene, potentially enabling the creation of yarns and fabrics with embedded electronic functions, as well as yet another class of composites. The method uses a shearing mechanism, somewhat like a cheese slicer, to peel off layers of graphene in a way that causes them to roll up into a scroll-like shape, technically known as an Archimedean spiral.

That could overcome one of the biggest drawbacks of graphene and nanotubes, in terms of their ability to be woven into long fibres: their extreme slipperiness. Because they are so perfectly smooth, strands slip past each other instead of sticking together in a bundle. And the new scrolled strands not only overcome that problem, they are also extremely stretchy, unlike other super-strong materials such as Kevlar. That means they might lend themselves to being woven into protective materials that could “give” without breaking.

One unexpected feature of the new layered composites is that the graphene layers, which are extremely electrically conductive, maintain their continuity all the way across their composite sample without any short-circuiting to the adjacent layers. So, for example, simply inserting an electrical probe into the stack to a certain precise depth would make it possible to uniquely address any one of the hundreds of layers. This could ultimately lead to new kinds of complex multilayered electronics.

The post Research Engineers Create New Nanolayered Composites appeared first on Composites Today.

Harvesting heat produced by a car’s engine which would otherwise be wasted and using it to recharge the car’s batteries or powering the air-conditioning system could be a significant feature in the next generation of hybrid cars.

The average car currently loses around 70% of energy generated through fuel consumption to heat. Utilising that lost energy requires a thermoelectric material which can generate an electrical current from the application of heat.

These thermoelectric materials convert heat to electricity or vice-versa, such as with refrigerators. The challenge with these devices is to use a material that is a good conductor of electricity but also dissipates heat well.

Currently, materials which exhibit these properties are often toxic and operate at very high temperatures. By adding graphene, a new generation of composite materials could reduce carbon emissions globally from car use.

The team from the University and European Thermodynamics Ltd led by Prof Ian Kinloch, Prof Robert Freer and Yue Lin, added a small amount of graphene to strontium titanium oxide. The resulting composite was able to convert heat which would otherwise be lost as waste into an electric current over a broad temperature range, going down to room temperature.

Prof Freer said:

The new material will convert 3–5% of the heat into electricity. That is not much but, given that the average vehicle loses roughly 70% of the energy supplied to it by its fuel to waste heat and friction, recovering even a small percentage of this with thermoelectric technology would be worthwhile.

The findings were published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Graphene’s range of superlative properties and small size causes the transfer of heat through the material to slow leading to the desired lower operating temperatures.

Improving fuel efficiency, whilst retaining performance, has long been a driving force for car manufacturers. Graphene could also aid fuel economy and safety when used as a composite material in the chassis or bodywork to reduce weight compared to traditional materials used.

Graphene was first isolated at The University of Manchester in 2004 by Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov, earning them the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010. The University is the home of graphene research with over 40 industrial partners working on graphene-related projects through the £61m National Graphene Institute.

The post Graphene Composites Could Be Used to Power Hybrid Cars appeared first on Composites Today.