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Engineering Graphene‐Ceramic 3D Composite Foams by Freeze Drying
Author(s) -
Thomas Tony,
Zhang Cheng,
Feliciano Ruiz Kristal M.,
Ramos-Pagan Carolina I.,
Negron Dariana M. Ramos,
Boesl Benjamin,
Agarwal Arvind
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.202001546
Subject(s) - materials science , composite number , graphene , composite material , graphene foam , ceramic , acrylonitrile butadiene styrene , agglomerate , ceramic matrix composite , nanotechnology , graphene oxide paper
A 3D graphene foam produced by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique is recognized as an effective nanofiller material, as it does not agglomerate in the matrix. Though CVD facilitates pristine graphene foam production, the method poses limitations in developing large‐scale 3D graphene composite foams as advanced engineering materials. Herein, a freeze‐drying (FD) process is used to produce a composite 3D foam, which is a mixture of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) and a low‐temperature co‐fired ceramic (LTCC). The freeze‐dried GNP‐LTCC reticulated 3D composite foam has an average pore size ranging from 70 to 100 μm. Pore size is varied by regulating the heat transfer rate during the freezing process using a thermally conductive aluminum (Al) mold and a thermally insulating acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) mold. Computational thermal modeling is used to visualize the heat transfer and its effect on foam pore size. Subsequently, a freeze‐dried GNP‐LTCC composite foam is embedded into the LTCC matrix to form a hierarchical assembly by a spark plasma technique without compromising the 3D structure of the FD foam. This study established that a simple, eco‐friendly, and scalable processing methodology can produce advanced graphene‐based 3D composite foams as the future tailorable nanofillers for designing multimatrix materials.