The other obvious application for a super-tough, ultralight graphene/aerogel composite membrane is aircraft skins. The “bulletproof cling film” production process could be modified so that the GCL graphene/aerogel composite was layered and then cured onto an aircraft mould – using the same process as that used to produce carbon-fibre racing cars and high-performance aircraft. A sample panel of our GCL graphene/aerogel composite is here (with a ruler for scale):
The GCL graphene/aerogel composite aircraft skin would be able to absorb much more shock; vibrations and noise would also be minimised by the aerogel layer. An aircraft skin made of GCL graphene/aerogel composite would also be much lighter than a carbon fibre aircraft skin because of the lightness of the aerogel; our rough estimate is 1/10th to 1/20th of the weight, depending on the formulation. And the aerogel in the GCL graphene/aerogel skin would also provide a significant degree of thermal insulation, whereas the carbon fibre skin would not.
There are two other properties of the GCL graphene/aerogel composite that we think would make it particularly useful in aircraft skins – smooth laminar flow, and electrical conductivity.
Because the layer of carbon atoms in the graphene layer are so tightly inter-linked, it could make a particularly smooth surface for air to flow across. This smooth laminar flow means less air drag – thus aircraft could fly more quickly, with less thrust required.
And as the best conductor of electricity, graphene is ideally suited to protect aircraft from lightning strikes, channelling away the electricity whilst the layer of aerogel – one of the best electrical insulators – would prevent the electricity from getting inside the aircraft.
The potential customers for this pre-preg graphene/aerogel tape are aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, British Aerospace and Airbus; existing aircraft understructures would need to be redesigned to account for the different physical properties of the graphene/aerogel skin, but with the superior performance characteristics of the graphene/aerogel composite, we would expect that it could take a large proportion of the existing market for carbon fibre pre-preg tape.
The research agency Markets and Markets estimated that the global market for aerospace composites will reach $5bn (£3.4bn) by 2019, with aircraft equipment manufacturers comprising the vast majority of demand. If the GCL graphene/aerogel composite could be manufactured at a competitive price (measured on a per square meter of coverage basis), we believe that the vastly superior performance characteristics would enable it capture a significant portion of the aerospace composites market.
Graphene Composites Ltd 