Graphene material is expected to reduce the plastic part of the vehicle by 20%

We only need to add a very small amount of graphene to some plastics to significantly change the properties and properties of the plastic.

In the promotion of the automotive industry, new technologies are always described as “revolutionary”, but this is often a good wish, not everyone believes.

However, for an emerging material, this description is very objective as long as the word "may" is added before the "revolutionary". This is graphene, which is “probably” a “revolutionary” automotive technology. Looking back, the graphene material was officially separated by researchers at the University of Manchester in the north of England in 2004. It is still only a new material that is only a "pregnancy", but has begun to steadily advance to mature mass production. In the next decade, graphene materials will likely bring significant changes to the design and manufacturing sectors, including the efficiency of electric vehicles and self-driving cars.

Versarien is an advanced materials engineering group led by Dr. Andrew Deakin as Chief Technology Engineer. The company is dedicated to extending the application of graphene materials from theoretical research to actual production, allowing this emerging material to fully reduce weight, strengthen materials and optimize batteries. The role: "As long as it is used properly, I think that graphene materials are expected to reduce the plastic part of the vehicle by 20%, which will be revolutionary. In addition, with excellent electrical conductivity, graphene materials are also expected to optimize battery performance, and thus significant Extend battery life."

As an allotrope, graphene is a derivative of graphite (usually used in pencils and dry lubricants). At present, a large amount of research and development work is still required for the large-scale application of graphene materials to mass production of automobiles. Dr. Deakin has been working to promote the use of graphene in vehicle design and manufacturing, but at the same time frankly face the possible challenges: "The application of graphene in some scenarios may be realized in a few years, in other scenarios. Applications may take more than a decade, and the exact time is often difficult to judge, but I am confident in the potential of this material."

Forecasts show that by 2020, the global automotive industry may use up to 6 million tons of plastic per year, but the final amount may fluctuate: for example, if a stronger, lighter plastic is made by adding graphene and replaced other larger mass density materials, the final amount of plastic may increase.

In this context, "the impact of the application of graphene in plastic materials on the environment and benefits" is more than good or bad, or it can be difficult to assess if it does more harm than good. However, graphene not only helps plastic materials to reduce weight and thus reduce energy consumption, but also optimizes the crashworthiness of materials: “The challenge at this stage is to apply graphene to more different types of plastics as much as possible, and thus better Understand the real optimization that this material can bring. Currently, we are just beginning to conduct large-scale testing of graphene in different materials and components."

Reinforced plastic

Dr. Deakin and his team are working to increase the strength of plastics by more than 30% to achieve the same amount of reduction but also achieve the same or higher strength. However, there are currently 13 types of plastics commonly used in vehicle manufacturing, and all types of plastics must undergo testing procedures.

Dr. Deakin said, “We have to determine how the graphene is added to the plastic, and the specific mixing ratio, such as 1% to 5%; then, we must improve all the necessary processes and technologies; finally, we will optimize the comprehensive test, and then Promote small-scale production to industrial scale."

Currently, Dr. Deakin has begun to use graphene materials to optimize the performance of tires, composite body panels, CFRP materials and batteries. “In the initial stage, we have to find the most meaningful application scenarios, and because of this, we are looking for help from a large number of industry experts. For example, we can use graphene to extend tire life to the current level. 1.5 times, or even 2 times, while reducing the need for plastic particles in the manufacturing process, which is very meaningful for protecting the environment. A recent report pointed out that in the plastic waste that is less than 1 mm in diameter, which is finally dumped into the ocean, More than 28% are from tires."

Graphene also helps to reduce the weight and size of the battery, thereby effectively extending the cruising range of the electric vehicle and has the potential to increase the charging speed of the battery.

In addition, graphene can also improve the impact strength of plastic sheets or bumpers, and similar performance gains can be obtained when applied to vehicle chassis. Of course, in order to achieve the desired effect, it is also necessary to continuously optimize the mixing ratio of graphene. On the other hand, graphene is generally not used for the reinforcement of aluminum or steel, but "the direct use of graphene-reinforced plastics to replace these metals" is also an alternative idea. Dr. Deakin explained: “If graphene-reinforced plastics are used, the torsional stiffness of the components will remain the same, even increase, and the impact strength will increase. Therefore, it is expected that more and more scenes will begin to use quality in the future. Lighter plastic, CFPR and GRP materials."

Versarien acquired 2D Experts in 2014, when the latter produced only 1 gram of graphene per day. Today, with the introduction of new equipment, the company expects to increase its single-day graphene production to 1 kg later this year ( 2.2 lbs). In this regard, Dr. Deakin said this is equivalent to a 1000-fold increase in production factors. In simple calculations, if the average daily production per device can be increased to 10 kg (22 lbs), 100 units can increase the company's single-day production to 1 ton. Dr. Deakin added, “In addition, when significantly optimizing the performance of plastics, we must also control the amount of graphene added to the plastic (possibly only 1% or less), which is very important.”

Dr. Deakin's details on the graphene production equipment and how it works are just a few words, indicating that plastics manufacturers can easily install such equipment in existing production plants.

In Dr. Deakin's definition, "real" graphene contains only a single layer of single-layer carbon atoms. However, most of the scales of Versarien graphene materials are no more than 5 layers, 90% of the scales are no more than 10 layers, and the average lateral dimension is only 2 microns.

In addition, recyclability is an important issue that must be considered before any new material can be officially applied. Dr. Deakin believes that the advent of graphene will rejuvenate old plastics (for example, when plastics degrade due to UV radiation), that is, retain their original properties or properties and re-enter the supply chain.

However, we still have to face a long-standing problem: what is the cost-effectiveness of “reducing the plastic consumption of vehicles by adding graphene”? Dr. Deakin said: "We expect that by using our technology, this graphene solution will be truly cost-effective in the next few years, which will take about five years."

So, can this graphene with only one layer of single atom thickness be a true "revolutionary" material? This will take time to verify.