Interesting way to make Graphene...
 

https://gigaom.com/2013/09/30/how-do-you-manufacture-huge-amounts-of-graphene-for-a-fraction-of-the-cost-printing-presses/

This is an interesting use for machines that will be all gone in 10 years. For those of you who are not familiar with Graphene, its is an atom thick string of carbon that's stronger than steel, highly conductive and is manipulatable with lasers.

Some believe that Graphene will have a greater influence on electronics than silicon.

Graphene is cool. I love these new odd materials.

I got a piece of aerogel for Christmas this year. It's amazing stuff.

Graphene cutting through ice.
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_Unr3Eu8Rpc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I had proposed a book on amazing materials that included grapheme and aerogels as well as amorphous metal and what have you...just have too many other projects going on. Seems like every other month another cool material is developed.

Oh well, the book would quickly become outdated anyway (cognitive dissonance) :(

That is really cool. I'm going to have to stay educated about the properties of this material as I am sure it will overtake carbon fiber in things like F1 and other forms of motorsports.

I'd buy it, as long as you went into enough detail. And it didn't cost $500. :)

Got anything on tribology that the average mechanical engineer would find useful?

The study of tribbles?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1401541865.jpg

Materials research (graphene, etc) is really what my entire facility is dedicated to. Too bad I'm not smart enough to really understand. :confused: It is interesting how little we actually know about modern materials and their applications. For instance, what happens to Inconel 718 (ductility/elongation) as radiation damage (dpa) increases? We're going to find that out this fall, hopefully. Nobody knows… We use 718 in critical applications and don't fully understand how it behaves.

Also, I have a design review Monday/Tuesday with the Office of Fusion Energy on a materials irradiation test facility to study how materials behave as helium occupies interstitial spaces and grain boundaries (he/dpa ratios due to fast neutrons). Nobody really knows. Maybe we can figure it out.

I can hook you up big time! Actually, I'm in the process of writing 'the Definitive Book on Oil Analysis'...

If your really interested, PM your email and I'll send you something. If you are feeling ambitious, take my STLE certification course and become a certified Oil Monitoring Analyst. Only a few hundred in the world!

Most companies selling this technology today are trying to form partnerships for manufacturing rather than offering a material that can be used at a reasonable cost and volume for manufacturing.

Take aerogel for example, it is without doubt a very lightweight super insulating material but it is so fragile the slightest knock, vibration turns it too a pile of useless dust.

Graphene, aerogel, nano materials are the future but there is a long way to go before they can be used outside of an R and D laboratory