Graphene strenghtened concrete piles - industrialization of functionalized graphene in concrete

Important results from the project

The project has managed to scale up the production of functionalized graphene from lab scale to pilot scale and has with its finale recipe managed to increase the compressive strength with 25% compared to reference concrete which is lower than the project goal of 50%. It has been more difficult than expected to create repeatable results. The process is sensitive of contamination and storage, dosage and mixing of the FGO is critical for the dispersion of the nanoparticles and thus the final increase in compressive strength.

Expected long term effects

25% increase in compressive strength compared to reference concrete is sort of a success even though the target of 50% was not met. The issue that’s still unsolved is the repeatability. Despite large test series there are still unknown parameters affecting the results. In short term the effects are small though the project can hopefully be a piece in the puzzle in the future development of industrialized graphene concrete. The production line of FGO can also be the subject of further developed for increased repeatability.

Approach and implementation

Initially a suitable supplier of graphene raw material was chosen with which Centrum Pile ABs concrete recipe with FGO additive was optimized in lab environment. With the right graphene raw material and verified concrete recipe the production line of FGO was scaled up. That enabled daily casting and testing of concrete samples for further optimization of the process to try to reach stability and repeatability. The implementation worked in general, but some parts turned out to be more time consuming than expected.