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

作为持续改进计划的一部分，在轻量化和降低成本战略的推动下，Martinrea的目标是在不影响钢管质量的情况下减少尼龙和Galfan在钢管上的使用，并仍然满足OEM保修认证条件。为此，我们建议在钢管上应用石墨烯薄片作为防护涂层。然而，为了评估这一方法的可行性，仍有大量的表征工作和实验室规模的测试需要进行。在这项工作中，我们将开发出将石墨烯用作工业规模的低碳钢刹车/燃料管耐腐蚀材料的技术。我们的目标是a)通过石墨的机械剥离来表征纳米Xplore生产的石墨烯薄片，b)开发在低碳钢试片上沉积石墨烯的方法，c)开发电化学方法来评估其耐腐蚀性。转移到Martinrea的结果将有助于了解石墨烯的性质，并将导致腐蚀减少战略的实施。

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.