Development of graphene composites for ground transportation applications

在地面运输车辆中使用轻质材料符合最新的节能法规和政策。例如，欧盟委员会的报废车辆（ELV）欧盟指令要求车辆由95%的可回收材料制成，其中85%通过再利用或机械回收，10%通过能源回收或热回收。对于大众高尔夫这样的汽车来说，将车身重量减少30%是可行的，目前车身总重量为1300公斤，车身重量为296公斤。以15万公里的使用寿命计算，每辆车的油耗减少约398升，或每100公里节省约0.3升。在过去的十年中，对聚合物纳米复合材料的基础研究导致了新型纳米改性聚合物的发展，这些聚合物具有更好的机械、热学和电学性能。在热固性树脂领域，石墨烯等纳米化学物质的集成对树脂的粘度和固化性能等理化性能产生了巨大的影响。这通常导致较差的可加工性，并阻止在工业规模上使用这些产品。因此，这些知识需要集成到更强大的制造环境中，更适合地面运输行业的实际应用。该项目涉及麦吉尔大学和NanoXplore之间的合作。该项目的目标是开发石墨烯基热固性树脂复合材料在地面运输中的应用。由NanoXplore开发的最先进的石墨烯集成工艺将与麦吉尔在纳米改性树脂多尺度复合材料加工方面的知识相结合。汽车工业是加拿大经济的基石，拟议的研究将为通用、福特、沃尔沃、本田、克莱斯勒等汽车公司节省大量成本。像德科马、哈钦森、麦格纳这样生产复合材料零件的小公司也将从拟议的研究结果中受益。

The use of lightweight materials in ground transportation vehicles is well aligned with most recent energy conservation regulations and policies. For example, the European Commission with the End of Life Vehicles (ELV) European Union directive requiring vehicles to be constructed of 95% recyclable materials, with 85% recoverable through reuse or mechanical recycling and 10% through energy recovery or thermal recycling. For a vehicle like the Volkswagen Golf, a 30% mass reduction of the car body, currently at 296 kg for a total vehicle weight of 1,300 kg, is feasible. For a lifetime road performance of 150,000 km, fuel consumption reduction in this lifetime is around 398 L or approximately 0.3 L/100 km fuel savings for each car. Over the last decade, fundamental researches on polymer nanocomposites have led to the development of new nanomodified polymers with improved mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. In the field of thermoset resins, the integration of nanochemicals like graphene has a huge impact on the resin physico-chemical properties such as viscosity and curing behaviour. This often results in poor processability and prevents from using these products at the industrial scale. Thus, this knowledge needs to be integrated in a more robust manufacturing environment more suitable for actual application in the ground transportation industry. This project involves the collaboration between McGill University and NanoXplore. The objective of the project is to develop applications of graphene based thermoset resin composites for ground transportation. State-of-the-art graphene integration process developed by NanoXplore will be combined to McGill's knowledge in processing of nanomodified resin multiscale composites. The automotive industry is a cornerstone of the Canadian economy and the proposed research will enable significant cost savings for automotive companies like GM, Ford, Volvo, Honda, Chrysler. Smaller companies like Decoma, Hutchinson, Magna that build composites parts, will also benefit from the results of the proposed research.