The Center for Process Innovation (CPI) will be collaborating with the National Composites Center (NCC) to develop advanced lightweight materials. The project, known as ‘Enhanced structural composites’ (ECOi), is evaluating the functionality and applicability of new graphene-enhanced materials in a variety of industries.
The University of Manchester will be consulting on the ECOi project at their National Graphene Institute, to generate and test a variety of new graphene composites that have improved functional properties compared to current materials.
The ECOi project will identify multiple grades of graphene and optimize them for incorporation into a resin. Prior investigations have primarily researched graphene utility under laboratory conditions. The ECOi project will look to scale-up the process to produce pilot industrial volumes of material. Suitable graphene-enhanced composite materials will be selected and investigated to understand if the enhanced properties shown during lab scale, such as electrical conductivity and toughness, translate when the material is produced at an industrial scale.
Materials identified within the ECOi project will be subject to a series of complex experiments designed to assess activity and function, to ensure it is suited to the desired application. This includes tests for the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the material. Knowledge gained in the project will be disseminated to UK manufacturing companies, helping to safeguard the long-term future for the UK’s materials manufacturing industry.
By investigating these new routes for composite material formation under industrial guidance, the risks associated with these processes can be avoided or reduced, potentially decreasing the time it takes for new, advanced materials to reach the marketplace.