GraSage
The transnational project GraSage – Modelling of the electrical and thermal transport mechanisms in graphene nano-modified polymer compounds and fibres was finally approved within the Flag-Era JTC Call 2017. In the GraSage project, Dutch, German, Spanish and Flemish partners will strongly collaborate the understanding and modelling of the influence of graphene on polymer materials.
Facts
- The project officially started on January 01, 2018 and will run until December 31, 2020
- GraSage has a total budget of 800,000 EUR which is completely covered by the respective national funding agencies
- 4 partners from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain are collaborating
- From Belgium: KU Leuven
- From the Netherlands: Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, Maastricht University (consortium leader)
- From Germany: Institut für Textiltechnik, RWTH Aachen
- From Spain: aitex textile research institute
Graphene, the two-dimensional allotrope of carbon, is said to be one of the most promising materials of the 21st century. For polymers, graphene is a potential filler material for the realization of electrically conductive materials which could find application in fibre-form as part of smart textiles. Anyway, the interaction of graphene with the surrounding polymer and its interaction with polymers is quite unknown yet. In order to tackle this bottleneck and to pave the way to tailor-made nano-composite materials, the project consortium will investigate the influence of graphene on polymers. Therefore, a three-column approach is pursued, consisting of a simulation of graphene in polymers, the preparation of polymer compounds and fibres within a design of experiments and finally the macroscopic modelling of correlations via neuronal nets and fuzzy logics.