Quantifying the Dispersion of Graphene Flakes in Advanced Composites

虽然我们不经常去想，但复杂的材料对我们的日常生活和例行公事有着深刻的影响。新材料的工程学，以及对其性质的精确控制，允许在每个行业开发新技术和创新。例如，现代飞机如果没有能够在2000摄氏度以上工作的坚固而轻便的材料就不能运行，没有电池就不可能有移动技术，电池可以长期储存大量能量，并在一系列现实世界条件下最佳运行。石墨烯是诺贝尔奖获得者材料，被归类为2D材料，这意味着它只由一层原子组成。事实证明，这导致了令人难以置信的材料性能，如良好的导热性和导电性，以及有史以来发现的所有材料中最大的抗拉强度。Anphite是一支由专家研究科学家和工程师组成的团队，他们致力于生产对我们的绿色未来产生重大影响的突破性材料。我们开发了一种新的工艺，能够将石墨烯融入到日常使用的现有材料中，极大地改善了它们在某些应用中的材料性能。自然，这种工艺能够在多大程度上提高主体材料的性能，取决于最终产品中石墨烯的含量以及它的分散程度。材料制备通常涉及许多工艺步骤，其中任何一个都会影响石墨烯在最终产品中的整体分散。我们已经采取措施，试图在我们的实验室内表征这些变量，但为了微调这些材料以用于商业产品，我们需要量化不同工艺对石墨烯的分散程度。国家物理实验室拥有一些英国顶尖的研究人员，以及一些用于测量材料性质的最先进的设备。我们提出了Anphite和NPL之间的一个合作项目，根据该项目，Anphite的材料经过严格的测量和表征，以提高我们制造革命性材料的能力。

Though we don't often think about it, complex materials have a profound effect on our daily lives and routines. The engineering of new materials, along with the precise control of their properties, allow the development of new technologies and innovations across every industry. As examples, modern planes could not operate without strong and light materials capable of operating at above 2000°C, and mobile technology would not be possible without batteries that can store a vast amount of energy over long periods of time and function optimally in a range of real-world conditions.Graphene is a nobel-prize winning material, and is categorised as a 2D material, which means that it is composed of only a single layer of atoms. This, it turns out, leads to incredible material properties such as great thermal and electrical conductivity, as well as boasting the largest tensile strength of any material ever discovered.Anaphite are a team of expert research scientists and engineers who are committed to producing breakthrough materials that have a substantial impact on our green future. We have developed a novel process which is able to incorporate graphene into existing materials in everyday use, vastly improving their material properties for certain applications.Naturally, the extent to which this process is able to 'boost' the performance of the host material depends on how much graphene is present within the end product, as-well as how dispersed it is. Material preparation typically involves many process steps, any of which can affect the overall dispersion of graphene within the final product. We have taken steps to try to characterise these variables within our lab but in order to fine-tune these materials for use within commercial products, we need to quantify the extent to which the different processes disperse the graphene differently.The National Physics Laboratory is home to some of the UK's top researchers, along with some of the most advanced equipment used to measure material properties. We propose a collaborative project between Anaphite and NPL, whereby Anaphite's materials are rigorously measured and characterised in order increase the ability for us to build revolutionary materials.