Advancing the Commercial Applications of Graphene

推进石墨烯的商业应用

• 批准号: EP/P510233/1
• 负责人: Patrick Smith
• 金额: $ 8.97万
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FP510233%2F1
• 关键词: Advancing; Commercial; Applications; Graphene

The purpose of this project is to manufacture a graphene functionalised fibre-reinforced composite material in which the variability of nano-filler dispersion and distribution is eliminated by the targeted inkjet printing of a dispersion of plasma functionalised graphene onto composite intermediates (such as fibre preforms, interleaves, tissues or prepregs), on specific areas where the graphene is required. This approach will deliver property enhancements or multi-functionality such as structural health monitoring (SHM), electrical, thermal and barrier performance that are demanded by high-end applications such as in the space, aerospace, and high-tech marine sectors. To achieve this, our approach will utilise the controlled introduction of graphene to the structured reinforcement phase of the composite. The graphene will be plasma-functionalised to ensure that it remains well dispersed in the carrier solvent and, as such, does not re-agglomerate which could either block the inkjet printheads or reduce the inherent properties of the graphene. The proposed research will evaluate two novel processing methods (plasma functionalisation and inkjet printing) for graphene which will address specific problems and improve on relative shortcomings in the performance of graphene- based materials within composite structures at a reasonable cost. In addition the proposed application has the potential to support another UK priority area (High Value Manufacturing). To date, the current use of graphene within composites has focused on mixing or in-situ exfoliation of graphitic materials within bulk resin. This method is inefficient because large proportions of graphene are required to have a demonstrable effect and consequently, due to the cost per kg of the material, it is difficult to overcome the cost barriers.This proposal takes a different approach: inkjet printing allows small, yet concentrated, quantities of graphene to be placed accurately and reproducibly into specific areas of a composite in order to achieve various different potential benefits. Plasma functionalisation of the graphene prior to inkjet printing is expected to solve the problem of graphene forming agglomerates which so far have limited efforts at inkjet printing it. The research will address specific applications of graphene within the aerospace sector to create multifunctional composite structures tailored to form structural circuits, structural sensors for structural health monitoring (SHM) or simply to gain targeted mechanical property increases. Current on-board electronic systems require the use of PCB circuits, embedded copper and wiring all of which can add additional cost and weight, and reduce performance. Copper inserts for example would typically have to be laminated into the composite structure by hand and could then act as sites for interlaminar crack initiation. The use of graphene in the manner proposed above will not reduce performance as it is expected that interlaminar toughness will increase and the added weight is negligible. Due to the targeted, automated and scalable manufacturing method along with the small amounts of material required the costs are expected to be competitive even considering the current price of graphene. Multiple benefits of using graphene will be exploited within the project: 1) interlaminar toughness increases 2) high electrical conductivity of concentrated graphene regions, 3) the flexibility of the printed embedded paths allowing for strain within the structure and 4) the relative ease of manufacture using inkjet printing. As the process could be used to functionalise dry fibre preforms, prepreg, interleaves or cured structures a wide variety of down-stream composite processing methods can be applied and for this reason the consortium expect that there will be a plethora of additional potential applications in different sectors in addition to the targeted aerospace application.

该项目的目的是制造一种石墨烯功能化纤维增强复合材料，通过在需要石墨烯的特定区域将等离子体功能化石墨烯分散体定向喷墨打印到复合中间体(如纤维预制件、交错、组织或预浸料)上，消除纳米填料分散和分布的变异性。这种方法将提供结构健康监测(SHM)、电气、热和屏障性能等高端应用所需的性能增强或多功能，例如在空间、航空航天和高科技海洋领域。为了实现这一点，我们的方法将利用石墨烯的受控引入复合材料的结构增强阶段。石墨烯将被等离子体功能化，以确保其在载体溶剂中保持良好的分散状态，因此不会重新团聚，这可能会阻碍喷墨打印头或降低石墨烯的固有性能。拟议的研究将评估两种石墨烯的新加工方法(等离子体功能化和喷墨打印)，这两种方法将解决具体问题，并以合理的成本改善基于石墨烯的材料在复合结构中的性能相对缺陷。此外，拟议的应用程序有可能支持另一个英国优先领域(高价值制造业)。到目前为止，石墨烯在复合材料中的使用主要集中在混合或原位剥离松散树脂中的石墨化材料。这种方法的效率很低，因为需要大量的石墨烯才能产生明显的效果，因此，由于每公斤材料的成本，很难克服成本障碍。该建议采用了不同的方法：喷墨打印允许少量但浓缩的石墨烯准确和可重复地放置到复合材料的特定区域，以实现各种不同的潜在好处。在喷墨打印之前对石墨烯进行等离子体功能化有望解决石墨烯形成团聚的问题，到目前为止，石墨烯在喷墨打印方面的努力有限。这项研究将解决石墨烯在航空航天领域的具体应用，以创建多功能复合结构，以形成结构电路、结构传感器，用于结构健康监测(SHM)，或只是为了获得有针对性的机械性能提高。目前的车载电子系统需要使用印刷电路板电路、嵌入式铜线和布线，所有这些都会增加成本和重量，并降低性能。例如，铜插件通常必须手工叠层到复合材料结构中，然后可以充当层间裂纹萌生的位置。以上述方式使用石墨烯不会降低性能，因为预计层间韧性将增加，而增加的重量可以忽略不计。由于定向、自动化和可扩展的制造方法以及所需的少量材料，即使考虑到石墨烯的当前价格，成本预计也具有竞争力。该项目将利用使用石墨烯的多种好处：1)增加层间韧性；2)密集的石墨烯区域的高导电性；3)印刷嵌入路径的灵活性，允许结构内的应变；以及4)使用喷墨印刷相对容易制造。由于该工艺可用于干纤维预制件、预浸料、交织或固化结构的功能化，因此可应用多种下游复合材料加工方法，因此，该财团预计，除了目标为航空航天应用外，不同部门还将有大量额外的潜在应用。