Graphene Reinforced Carbon Fiber Can Produce High-strength Composite Material

Graphene Reinforced Carbon Fiber Can Produce High-strength Composite Material

The Pen State University claims that a new method of manufacturing carbon fiber may one day lead to the use of these lightweight, high-strength materials to increase safety and reduce the production of autombiles cost results. Through the combination of computer simulation and laboratory experiments, the research team found that adding a small amount of graphene during the production process not only reduces the product cost, but also enhances the strength of the fiber.

For decades, carbon fiber has been the main force in aircraft production. If manufactured in the right way, these long chains of carbon atoms, which are narrower than human hair, are lightweight, high in hardness, and strong-this is a perfect application that can ensure that passengers are flying in high altitudes miles away from the ground security.

Adri van Duin, a professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University, said: "Although carbon fiber has very good characteristics, according to the current manufacturing method of carbon fiber, they will make the car more expensive. If these properties can be made easier to manufacture, then It can make cars lighter, lower cost, and safer to drive. "

Through laboratory experiments and computer simulations, a group of researchers found that adding graphene to the production process of carbon fiber greatly enhances the strength of the material, which may be paved for high-strength and cost-effective automotive materials in the future. Flat road

The current price of carbon fiber is about $ 15 / lb. A team of researchers from Pennsylvania State University, the University of Virginia and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working with industry partners Solvay and Oshkosh, hopes to change the complex production process. Reduce this price to $ 5 / lb. Lower production costs will increase the potential applications of carbon fiber, including automotive applications. In addition, the team's research may reduce the cost of producing other types of carbon fiber, some of which are reportedly currently selling for up to $ 900 / lb.

Małgorzata Kowalik, a researcher at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, said: "At present, most carbon fiber is made of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer, and the cost is quite high. The price of PAN accounts for about 50% of the production cost of carbon fiber.

Currently, 90% of carbon fibers on the market are made of PAN, but their production requires a lot of energy. First, the PAN fiber must be heated to 200-300 ° C to oxidize it. Next, they must be heated to 1200-1600 ° C to convert the atoms to carbon. Finally, they must be heated to 2100 ° C to arrange the molecules correctly. Without this series of steps, the resulting material would lack the required strength and rigidity.

The research team reported in the latest issue of "Science Progress" that the addition of trace graphene (at a concentration of only 0.075% by weight) at the first stage of the process can produce strength and stiffness that are better than traditional PAN carbon fiber Carbon fiber with 225% and 184% height.

The research team gained an in-depth understanding of the chemical reactions that took place through a series of small and large computer simulations on several supercomputers, including the advanced network infrastructure of the Institute of Computing and Data Science; The National Science Foundation funded the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, a multi-institution network of supercomputers and related resources. They also used the laboratory of the Pennsylvania Institute of Materials (MRI) to study the characteristics of each material.

"We link experiments of different scales, not only to prove the effectiveness of this process, but also provide us with an atomic-scale reason to explain the role of these additives," said van Duin, who is the MRI's material calculation center The director is also an assistant to ICDS, "This knowledge enables us to further optimize the process."

Using the new knowledge gained from this research, the team is exploring how to use graphene in this production process with cheaper precursors. The goal is to completely cut off one or more production steps, thereby further reducing costs. The US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation supported this research.