On Thursday, June 10, the National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) reported that its research team had developed a technology for producing graphene at room temperature. Multigraphene films made using low-temperature synthesis can act as an additive to silumin (alloy of aluminium and silicon) powders to create qualitatively new composites for 3D printing, MISiS' Press Office informs.
Graphene can improve the mechanical and functional properties of composite products; hence, it has various applications. One way to produce graphene for industrial purposes is to obtain it electrochemically – from molten salts, which requires a temperature of 500-700 °C. It, however, excludes the possibility of its deposition on particles of low-melting metals, such as aluminium, and therefore significantly narrows the range of possible composites modified with graphene.
"Our goal was to produce a significant amount of graphene-silumin powder composite for 3D printing. For this, we carried out the electrochemical deposition of graphene from a weak solution of sulphuric acid with added sucrose. During the deposition of graphene on silumin powder, the solution temperature did not exceed 25-30 °C. Then the obtained composites were subjected to fusion by the SLM method to obtain 3D products," said Sergei Eremin, co-author of the study, engineer of the Department of Functional Nanosystems and High-Temperature Materials at MISiS.
Let us recall that Kuzbass State Technical University has developed and successfully tested an innovative method of producing carbon fibres based on the thermal dissolution of coal. Using environmentally friendly deep coal processing, a new high-quality raw material used for making composites emerges. Composite materials are in use in the aviation and space industries, mechanical and power engineering, electronics.