Microstructure Evolution of Graphene and the Corresponding Effect on the Mechanical/Electrical Properties of Graphene/Cu Composite during Rolling Treatment

Abstract

Rolling enables the directional alignment of the reinforcements in graphene/Cu composites while achieving uniform graphene dispersion and matrix grain refinement. This is expected to achieve a breakthrough in composite performance. In this paper, the process parameters of rolling are investigated, and the defects, thickness variations of graphene and property changes of the composite under different parameters are analyzed. High-temperature rolling is beneficial to avoid the damage of graphene during rolling, and the prepared composites have higher electrical conductivity. The properties of graphene were investigated. Low-temperature rolling is more favorable to the thinning and dispersion of graphene; meanwhile, the relative density of the composites is higher in the low-temperature rolling process. With the increase of rolling deformation, the graphene defects slightly increased and the number of layers decreased. In this paper, the defect states of graphene and the electrical conductivity with different rolling parameters is comprehensively investigated to provide a reference for the rolling process of graphene/copper composites with different demands.

Microstructure and Properties of a Graphene Reinforced Cu–Cr–Mg Composite

“…However, the intensity ratio of the peaks can only reflect the change in D peak intensity. We have, therefore, used the area ratio of the D-to-G peak (I D /I G ) to describe the change in graphene defect density, which has also been reported in other studies [ 10 , 21 ]. To accurately estimate this ratio, Gauss–Lorentz area numerical integration has been used to fit the D and G peaks.…”

Effects on the Microstructure Evolution and Properties of Graphene/Copper Composite during Rolling Process

“…It is worth mentioning that the cold-rolling treatment in this research with large deformations exceeding 80% surprisingly contributes to improve the mechanical and electrical properties of graphene/copper composites. However, significant performance degradation occurs in the cold-rolled composite fabricated with ball milling, with similar deformation [24]; the hardness of the cold-rolled composite with 80% deformation is only…”

“…The composite with 80% rolling reduction rolled at 500 ℃ was shown to have a maximum ultimate strength of 441 MPa. Xiu et al investigated the effects of rolling temperature and deformation on the graphene microstructure and composite performance in a 0.6 wt.% graphene/copper composite [ 24 ]. The results showed that high-temperature rolling contributes to avoiding damage to graphene during rolling and improving the properties of the composites.…”