abstract
Lightweight, three-dimensional (3D) cellular structures of graphene/silicon carbide (SiC) showing very low densities (<1.6 g cm(-3)) as compared to the dense skeleton (<3.2 g cm(-3)) have been fabricated by a filament-based printing technique known as Robocasting. These scaffolds have been assembled from pseudoplastic inks containing homogeneous mixtures of SiC ceramic powders and up to 20 vol.% of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), and densified by pressureless spark plasma sintering. The electrical conductivity (sigma) of the scaffolds shows certain anisotropy with the structure orientation and increases with the GNPs volume fraction. In this way, sigma values of up to 611 S m(-1) for the longitudinal and 273 S m(-1) for the transverse orientations of the structures relative to the extruded rods are achieved. First attempts to model the electrical behavior of robocast scaffolds using both analytical and finite-element methods are described. The models provide a correct description of general trends in the conductivity and anisotropy, and are expected to be useful as a first approach to anticipate the trends of other properties, as the thermal conductivity, of such complex multifunctional cellular materials, thus narrowing the experimental workload. Scaffolds tested under compression show crushing strengths in the range of 10-50 MPa, which increase with the relative density of the skeletons. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
keywords
SILICON-CARBIDE CERAMICS; THERMAL-ENERGY STORAGE; GRAPHENE/CERAMIC COMPOSITES; PERIODIC STRUCTURES; SCAFFOLDS; SUPERCAPACITOR; ARCHITECTURES; CONDUCTIVITY; RESISTIVITY; FABRICATION
subject category
Chemistry; Materials Science
authors
Roman-Manso, B; Figueiredo, FM; Achiaga, B; Barea, R; Perez-Coll, D; Morelos-Gomez, A; Terrones, M; Osendi, MI; Belmonte, M; Miranzo, P
our authors
Filipe Miguel H Lebre R Figueiredo
Principal Researcheracknowledgements
This work was supported by the Spanish Government and CSIC under projects MAT2012-32944 and PIE 201360E063, respectively, and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through projects CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (FCT UID/CTM/50011/2013), financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC, and when applicable, co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, and Investigador FCT 2013 contract number IF/01174/2013.