The mechanics and design of a lightweight three-dimensional graphene assembly

Zhao Qin, Gang Seob Jung, Min Jeong Kang, Markus J. Buehler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

371 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recent advances in three-dimensional (3D) graphene assembly have shown how we can make solid porous materials that are lighter than air. It is plausible that these solid materials can be mechanically strong enough for applications under extreme conditions, such as being a substitute for helium in filling up an unpowered flight balloon. However, knowledge of the elastic modulus and strength of the porous graphene assembly as functions of its structure has not been available, preventing evaluation of its feasibility. We combine bottom-up computational modeling with experiments based on 3D-printed models to investigate the mechanics of porous 3D graphene materials, resulting in new designs of carbon materials. Our study reveals that although the 3D graphene assembly has an exceptionally high strength at relatively high density (given the fact that it has a density of 4.6% that of mild steel and is 10 times as strong as mild steel), its mechanical properties decrease with density much faster than those of polymer foams. Our results provide critical densities below which the 3D graphene assembly starts to lose its mechanical advantage over most polymeric cellular materials.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1601536
JournalScience Advances
Volume3
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2017
Externally publishedYes

Funding

We thank L. Gibson, N. Fang, and J. Kong (all from Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for helpful discussion of theoretical analysis. We thank S. Rudolph for help in the design and setup of the tensile and compressive tests on 3D-printed samples. The authors acknowledge support from the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-16-1-233) and Air Force Office of Scientific Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (Grant No. FA9550-15-1-0514). The authors also acknowledge support from BASF-NORA.

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