Micro graphene

Important results from the project

There is a need to reduce the transportation costs of the bulky graphite expanded material, which is constituent material in the exfoliation process for graphene production. This can be done by expanding graphite at the site of the end user. The goal was to test whether a process for continuous expansion of intercalated graphite could be created together with Pegil AB (manufacturer of industrial microwave systems), to use the expanded graphite in 2d Fab AB´s exfoliation process to produce the graphene, and also to test it in SaltX composites in order to improve heat conduction.

Expected long term effects

We have succeeded in building a process equipment for continuous graphite expansion where the expanded graphite has been used for the production of graphene in the 2D Fab AB:s exfoliation process. More work remains to be done in optimizing the process as it is also heavily dependent on the material handling circuit systems. The promising results will lead to further development of the process. Unfortunately, the tests at Salt X did not show any desired improvement in the conductivity of the graphene in their composites.

Approach and implementation

Initially, the project was started with brain-storming to find out which experimental set-up we would start with. It eventually became clear to us that a tube reactor mounted in an industrial microwave oven would be used. The experiments with the first tube reactor were done with manual graphite input and confirmed the functionality. However, the reactor pipe soon broke down and led to a time of contemplation and contact with the supplier to ensure that the next prototype would work. In that version we later added systems for continuous input of the graphite powder.