Gratomic plans to commercialize graphene-enhanced tires in 2018

Gratomic, formerly called CKR Carbon Corporation, recently announced that it is expecting to commercialize graphene-enhanced tires in 2018 as a result of its advanced R&D program to include plasma-generated graphene in tires to increase their strength and reduce their.

Gratomic’s graphene material is reportedly being tested in pre-production trials by 5 major tire manufacturers in Asia and Europe with a consolidated demand in excess of 5000 tonnes of graphene annually.

Gratomic, an advanced materials company focused on mine-to-market commercialization of graphite products (most notably various high-value graphene-based components), is collaborating with Perpetuus Advanced Materials, a European manufacturer of graphene to use graphite from its Aukam project to manufacture graphene products for commercialization on an industrial scale.

Perpetuus eportedly developed and is commercializing a plasma-based reactor process for producing industrial scale, cost-effective, surface engineered Advanced Materials, commencing with graphene. Test results of tires using plasma processed graphite-derived graphene show:

• Higher grip braking reduced by 2 meters at 50 kph, which is a significant safety feature;
• Improved rolling resistance, which means longer free wheel & increased fuel economy. This is particularly important to fleet managers whose bottom line is highly dependent on fuel economy;
• Comparison of graphene tires to a premium brand tire showed that the graphene tires outlasted the premium non-graphene tires by approximately 5,000 kilometers in real world road conditions; and,
• Cost-effective as compared to carbon black.

Graphene is used as a substitute to carbon black, one of the 4 components of tires: rubber, nylon, steel and carbon black. Carbon black is mainly used as a reinforcing filler in rubber products. Graphene is said to have a greater surface to volume ratio, which makes it more suitable as a filler in tires that carbon black.

The dispersion of graphene from Perpetuus’ plasma technology was explained to allow to increase the functional role of graphene as a superior substitute for carbon black. Elastomer blends are prepared for realizing the maximum surface area along with empathetic matrix selective functionalization facilitating the efficient mixing of graphene stacks into the tires elastomeric targeted matrix. Dispersion routes include high shear mixing melt intercalation & in situ polymerisation.