制作有史以来最强的材料：MIT的3D打印石墨烯

通过研究强结构的几何形状，麻省理工学院的研究人员现在更接近3D打印石墨烯。相比之下，2D石墨烯在传导电力方面比铜线更好，比钢强十倍，并且比两者都较轻，肯定更透明。问题在于，这些特性以及所有理论上的纳米材料都具有挑战性。此外，为了与铜和钢竞争，石墨烯必须为3D。

3D石墨烯 - 这是交易

The challenges of making a 3D structure out of a 2D material is that the material’s atomic structure, the source of all its power, is changed through production methods, i.e. melting and cooling in 3D printing. Currently, graphene is usedto strengthen other materialssuch as TPU or PLA.

麻省理工学院的最新研究The mechanics and design of a lightweight three-dimensional graphene assemblyputs forward a possible geometric structure for graphene, providing its atomic structure prints unchanged. The geometry takes the form of gyroid, a shape first discovered by mathematician Alan Schoen in 1970.

Geometry is key

Gyroids are similar to the honeycomb structure of graphene itself in that their entire lattice can be created from just one segment of it, i.e. all you need to recreate a graphene lattice, is one hexagon.

甲状腺的特征也以其最小的表面为特征，这意味着它以‘占用空间所需的最少面积’. This lends the shape to 3D printing as it means that it requires less material to make a shape of a particular volume cutting out waste and also weight, which is one of the main reasons for studying graphene’s 3D possibilities.

Tensile and compression tests

MIT 3D printed five gyroids with varying wall thickness. They were made in Stratasys’ VeroMagenta plastic on一个对象500, at a resolution of 20 μm (microns or micromemters, a single unit being one thousandth of a millimetre), and then each tested for tensile (stretched) and compressive (squashed) strength.

Comparative compression tests of a gyroid with thin walls (left) and thicker walls (right). Clip via:Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)on YouTube

结果表明，与较薄的同类产品相比，在压力下，具有较厚壁的能力表现不同 - 薄结构逐渐崩溃，而厚的壁吸收压力并将其释放到爆炸中。

这些测试的结果使研究人员能够数字模拟由石墨烯制成的能作者在这种压力下执行的方式，正如主要作者Markus Buehler所解释的那样“您可以用任何东西代替材料本身。几何形状是主要因素。这有可能转移到许多事情上。”

特色图显示了一种3D打印的能力，用于实现3D石墨烯的理论结构。图片由Mealnie Gonick拍摄。