Mechanical strength - Page 7

Poland based graphene producer Nano Carbon (that began to produce graphene materials in December 2013) announced that Polish defense group Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa acquired a controlling stake (51%) in the company

This is a new defense group that is being formed by the Polish Ministry of Treasury. According to the reports from Poland, the Polish military is researching possible graphene uses in applications such as night goggles, gas masks, combat helmets and armored fighting vehicles.

Researchers from Australia and Ireland developed a flexible yarn made from graphene oxide. This strong, lightweight, highly conductive and high capacitance fiber may be a great material for wearable textiles.

The researchers report that the new yarns and fibers exhibit the best electrochemical capacitance ever - of as high as 410 F/g. To create the fiber, the researchers used a novel wet-spinning technique that can produce both GO and r-GO yarns of unlimited lengths. Those yarns are strong (with a Young’s modulus that is greater than 29 GPa), have a high electrical conductivity of around 2500 S/m and a very large surface area about 2600 m2/g for graphene oxide and 2210 m2/g for the reduced material.

The University of Central Florida’s NanoScience Technology Center is developing graphene-based spray coating. The spray will be based on a polymer-graphene composite that will both be used to strengthen materials (used for the construction of aircrafts and cars) and to protect materials from corrosion.

The Center launched a program that will develop graphene oxide, the plastic host and a plasma spray. Garmor (which was spun off the UCF and licensed technology developed at the NanoScience Center) will assist with the formulation of the graphene oxide. The GO will need to be modified so it can be adhered to a plastic host and sprayed onto a surface while retaining its innate strength and elasticity.

Researchers from Brown University have shown that it is possible to create a graphene-like 2D material from Boron. This new materiel (termed Borophene) may prove to be an even better conductor than graphene.

Boron has one fewer electron than carbon so it cannot form a honeycomb lattice. But now it turns out that you can make a cluster of 36 Boron atoms (shown on the left in the image above) called B36 that looks like a disc with a hexagonal hole in the middle. This B36 can be used to form an extended planar 2D graphene-like material.

Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute developed a simple method to determine the strength and stiffness of graphene materials. The researchers published data that enables researchers to correlate the precise strength and stiffness of non-pristine graphene samples to their Raman signatures.

The researchers say that these new results provide a rapid and non-destructive method to determine the strength and stiff of graphene samples - with a high degree of accuracy. The researchers a range of graphene samples - with different densities and defects. They then characterized those samples using Raman spectroscopy. Finally, they used a nanoindentation technique to press sharp diamond tips into the graphene samples, and recorded how the samples stretched and, in some cases, tore.

Researchers from the University of Manchester are developing a new graphene-latex composite for use in condoms. The researchers hope that graphene will enable thinner, stronger and safer condoms - which makes sense as graphene is very thin and light but yet strong, transparent and flexible. The researchers have been awarded £62,000 ($100,000) by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The researchers say that the new composite material will be "tailored to enhance the natural sensation during intercourse while using a condom, which should encourage and promote condom use".

Researchers from Columbia University used graphene to produce the world's smallest FM radio transmitter using NEMS (nanoelectromechanical system, a scaled-down versions of MEMS which are used mostly for sensing of vibration or acceleration). This is not a practical FM radio design, but this technology may be used in wireless signal processing.

The researchers built a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) that is used to create a FM signal. They used graphene to make a NEMS device with a frequency of about 100 Mhz (FM radio uses 87.7 to 108 Mhz). Low-frequency music signals from an iPhone were used to module the carrier signal, and these can be heard by using an ordinary FM receiver.

In early 2013, HEAD announced their new range of graphene tennis rackets, the YouTek Graphene Speed series. These rackets are now shipping, ranging from $170 to $286 (with some cheaper racket for kids). A few days ago the editors of Popular Science, the world’s largest science and technology magazine, have named HEAD’s racket a 2013 recipient of the publication’s Best of What’s New Award in the recreation category.

HEAD explains that the rackets are constructed with graphene, which enables a redistribution of weight from the racket shaft to the grip and head, which in turn allows players to generate more kinetic energy when they hit the ball.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota in collaboration with Adama Materials managed to create a highly durable graphene-plastic compound. They say that by adding a tiny amount of graphene, the plastic toughness was increased by about 2.5 times.

This research started two years ago and the researchers are now seeking to refine to process so it can commercialized. The process they develops starts by adding chemical groups on the graphene surface so it bonds better to the epoxy they are using. Then they disperse the graphene in a liquid and pours it into molds and it hardens into the plastic.

Back in June 2013, Haydale (owned by ICL from May 2011) announced that it developed metal-free graphene-based inks. Haydale, established in 2003 with strong links with Swansea University, is developing and marketing carbon materials under the HDPlas brand. The company currently focuses on graphene, CNTs and zinc nanomaterials. Ray Gibbs, ICL's Commercial Directory was kind enough to update us on Haydale's new inks and more aspects of their business and technology.

Haydale developed their own Split-Plasma process to convert mined graphite ore into functionalised graphene flakes (nanoplatelets). This scalable and environmentally friendly method is claimed to be significantly quicker and substantially more cost efficient than other methods. Split-Plasma does not damage the materials and can be controlled to provide appropriate functionalisation levels that are not restricted to the chemical groups associated with other "wet" chemistry processing methods. One of its unique characteristics is that the process can (and has) been used to functionalise synthetically produced graphene materials.