Graphene coated steel tubes for automotive fuel and brake systems: characterization and corrosion resistance

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

As a part of ongoing continuous improvement program, driven by lightweight and cost reduction strategies,Martinrea aims at reducing the use of nylon and Galfan on the steel tubes without compromising the qualityand still meeting OEMs warranty certification conditions. For this purpose we propose application of grapheneflakes on steel tubes as a protective coatings. However, there is still significant amount of characterizationwork and laboratory scale testing that should be performed for the assessment of the feasibility of thisapproach. In this work we will develop techniques to use graphene as a corrosion resistant material at anindustrial scale for low carbon steel brake/fuel tubes. We aim to a) characterize the graphene sheets producedby NanoXplore via mechanical exfoliation of graphite, b) develop methods to deposit graphene layers on top ofthe low C steel coupons, c) develop electrochemical methods to evaluate their corrosion resistance. The resultstransferred to Martinrea will contribute to understanding of properties of graphene and will lead to theimplementation of corrosion reduction strategies.