World’s First Prototype Composite Component Produced in Sunderland University

A University of Sunderland academic working on ‘wonder material’ Graphene for use in the automotive industry has successfully produced the world’s first prototype composite component. Ahmed Elmarakbi, Professor of Automotive Composites at the University, is leading Task 10.11 – Composites for Automotive, part of the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technology Flagship. The pioneering project is exploring how Graphene which is just one atom thick and a million times thinner than human hair, could be used to create lighter, stronger, safer and more energy-efficient vehicles revolutionizing the global car industry. However, Prof Elmarakbi says there are still challenges to be overcome. First, there are difficulties in the applying Graphene - which is only a few-layers thick – as the thicker it’s applied the more brittle it becomes, like graphite. Secondly it’s difficult to uniformly disperse the Graphene in the polymer.