GenTex

Important results from the project

Electrically conductive textile is an important material in several defense products. Traditionally, these are manufactured by coating with electrically conductive polymers. Graphene, with its extreme material properties, is a very interesting material for achieving electrical conductivity. The project´s objective is to map defense products, with a focus on camouflage, where graphene could improve performance, manufacture prototypes of electrically conductive textiles based on graphene, and analyze the possibilities of manufacturing these on an industrial scale.

Expected long term effects

Several prototypes were manufactured with graphene-coated textile showing high electrical conductivity at very low levels of graphene. The electrical conductivity was also due to the purity of the graphene, where the single-layer graphene was significantly better than the multi-layer graphene. An unexpected results was that graphene showed very high adhesion to the textile fiber and thus the proportion of binder could be reduced. The results indicate that conductive textiles based on graphene are very interesting, both from a performance and environmental point of view.

Approach and implementation

The project was divided into three work packages. Product and requirements specification, Characterization of graphene-coated textile, Feasibility analysis of graphene-coated textile. The work packages were carried out and the deliverables were entered into the subsequent work packages. Workshops were held regularly at Grafren AB and at Saab Barracuda AB. These included all parts of the project with sample production, analysis, measurement and planning. Results communicated in a steering groups at each company and at SIO Grafens meetings and workshops.