Thermal and mechanical improvement of aluminum open-cells foams through electrodeposition of copper and graphene

Abstract

-Thanks to its planar structure, graphene is characterized by unique properties, such as excellent chemical inactivity, high electrical and thermal conductivity, high optical transparency, extraordinary flexibility and high mechanical resistance, which make it suitable in a very wide range of applications. This paper details the state of the art in graphene coating applied to aluminum open-cells foams for the improvement of their mechanical and thermal behavior. Metallic foams are highly porous materials with extremely high convective heat transfer coefficients, thanks to their complex structure of three-dimensional open-cells. Graphene nanoplatelets have been used to improve thermal conductivity of aluminum foams, to make them better suitable during heat transfer in transient state. Also, an improvement of mechanical resistance has been observed. Before electrodeposition, all the samples have been subjected to sandblasting process, to eliminate the oxide layer on the surface, enabling a better adhesion of the coating. Different nanoparticles of graphene have been used. The experimental findings revealed a higher thermal conductivity for aluminum open cells foams electroplated with graphene. Considered the relatively low process costs and the improvements obtainable, these materials are very promising in many technological fields. The topics covered include surface modification, electrochemical plating, thermo-graphic analysis.

Design and Mechanical Characterization of Voronoi Structures Manufactured by Indirect Additive Manufacturing

“…However, expensive machineries, as well as low surface finishing and demanding process settings, limit the application of these methodologies in industrial environments [7]. Metal foams are composed of biphasic and cellular materials, which combine good mechanical resistance with excellent thermal and acoustic properties [8].In particular, high specific strength [9][10][11][12][13] and strain [14][15][16], excellent energy absorption [17,18], acoustic insulation [19], and heat dissipation media [20][21][22][23][24] make this class of materials increasingly useful for several multifunctional applications. The main problem afflicting metal foams regards the manufacturing process, and specifically the porosity distribution [25,26], as well as the connection with other components.…”

High Thermal Conductivity of Copper Matrix Composite Coatings with Highly-Aligned Graphite Nanoplatelets

“…The surface preparation was carried out using a sandblasting machine to easily remove the oxide layer that is formed on the surface. The electrodeposition process used is composed of three distinct phases [ 35 , 36 ]. During the first phase, a thin copper layer is electroplated on the aluminum substrate to prepare the surface for the GnP deposition, given the high electron affinity between the two materials.…”

Evaluating the Effect of Metal Bipolar Plate Coating on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

“…However, the researchers concluded that corrosion of aluminum foam may lead to an increase in detachment of material and treatment with cataphoresis resulting in good adhesive levels. Alessandro et al [97] conducted an experiment on the electro-deposition of graphene and copper on open cell aluminum metal foams, which was done after sandblasting treatment. They discovered that the coated sample improved in terms of energy deformation, Young module and yield strength better than the uncoated samples.…”