Lola Gayle, STEAM Register
Graphene has many extraordinary properties, most notably is its strength. At roughly 100 times stronger than the strongest steel, graphene has a greater ability to distribute force from an impact than any other material known to man.
To show off this material’s strength, Graphene Flagship partner IIT and Italian design company Momodesign have developed a motorcycle helmet that includes a graphene coating that allows better distribution of impact force.
This makes the helmet less susceptible to damage compared to helmets without graphene, even in high temperatures. The result is a helmet that improves thermal comfort and safety.
“I started to read publications about graphene with curiosity and interest,” said Marco Cattaneo, president of Momodesign states, who was also developing ideas for using graphene technologies to “improve products in which safety is the most important aspect.”
Graphene Helmet by IIT and Momodesign. Credit: Momo Design – IIT
Working together was a natural process. “We needed just 5 minutes to get in sync with Marco,” said Vittorio Pellegrini, Director of the Graphene Labs at IIT. “In the following days we set out the roadmap of our collaboration and after one month we started to work in the labs.” Pellegrini is also leader of the Energy Storage Work Package of the Graphene Flagship and chair of its executive board.
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Motorcycle helmets are constructed of two parts — a solid outer shell, and a shock-absorbing polystyrene or foam inner part. In the new helmet, graphene is added into the outer shell as a coating, providing a protective effect to the inner materials of the helmet.
Pellegrini describes this effect as a graphene shelter: the excellent heat-conductive properties of the graphene dissipate heat quickly across the helmet, and protect the inner materials from degradation caused by heat.
The helmets are fabricated in a manufacturing plant in northern Italy, where the graphene-coating procedure has been integrated directly into the existing production line.
“We had to work very hard on each step of this process,” said Pellegrini, “taking into account costs and delays in production due to the additional coating procedure, but finally we developed a process fully compatible with that used by Momodesign for their standard helmets.”
The manufacturing process starts with the production of a graphene powder with few- and multi-layer graphene flakes. This powder is subsequently mixed into a solution and then spray-coated on the exterior shell of the helmets.
The graphene shelter technology is the first step of this collaboration. “Our aims for the future are to continue evolving as a company with the development of other graphene helmets,” Cattaneo said.
The researchers are now working to add graphene into the inner plastic materials of the helmet, with the goal of achieving the same level of safety with a thinner helmet and improve comfort for the wearer.
An initial run of 3,000 helmets have been produced for sale in specialty markets and major motoring showrooms. The helmet will be on display at the Graphene Flagship Pavilion at the Composites Europe show from the November 29 through December 1 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
The Story of Graphene
If you’ve ever drawn with a pencil, you’ve probably made graphene. According to the University of Manchester: “Fascination with this material stems from its remarkable physical properties and the potential applications these properties offer for the future. Although scientists knew one atom thick, two-dimensional crystal graphene existed, no one had worked out how to extract it from graphite.
“That was until it was isolated in 2004 by two researchers at The University of Manchester, Prof Andre Geim and Prof Kostya Novoselov. This is the story of how that stunning scientific feat came about and why Andre and Kostya won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work.”
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