Teams work on aircraft parts made from graphene

Stronger, lighter aircraft wings could be built by adding graphene to the materials used to construct them.

In a new partnership between Manchester University and the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials (BIAM) announced this week, researchers will explore the use of graphene composites in aircraft.

Researchers at BIAM and Manchester University’s National Graphene Institute will exchange expertise and cooperate on projects to understand and test the structure of graphene reinforced aluminium matrix nanocomposites.

The projects could result in lighter, stronger and conductive parts for aeroplanes, high speed trains and other industrial equipment, replacing traditional materials.

Adding graphene to aluminium alloys could considerably increase their strength, while retaining their flexibility, according to Prof Robert Young at Manchester University, who is leading the collaboration.

Researchers at BIAM have been doing a considerable amount of work into incorporating graphene into aluminium in recent years, said Young. While they have already demonstrated that the graphene can improve the strength of the material by up to 25 per cent, they do not yet know how the mechanism works, said Young.