Graphene - Pvp - Cement Mortar composite BRICK _ THERMAL CAMERA

This project is a study of graphene as an embedded material inside traditional building materials. The fabrication method of this brick was based on a laser-cut plywood cast. The faces of the cast were covered with Vaseline to avoid breaks while un-casting. The casting included three phases. Firstly, one of the slabs is cast and the four metal reinforcements are placed with half of their height exposed to be later embedded in the next slab. Before the mortar dries completely, the graphene – pvp cross circuits are applied to the mortar surface and when it begins to solidify the next slab is cast on top. Finally, when the piece is un-casted, the parts of the cast that create the cylindrical holes are removed and the holes are filled with graphene – pvp composite to create the ten side connections. Testing: The voltage of 32.5 Volts was applied to different positions on the brick and the resistance and amperage values were recorded. A thermal camera recorded the distribution of heat in the mortar mass. While investigating the idea of a circuit of graphene – pvp and clay composite, inside a volume of a brittle building material, the production of heat in relation with the material properties and the current passing through the circuit was simulated in a simplified way. The simulation of the variable section wire resistance is aiming to perform as a tool, helping the design process of the different patterns and speculating the heat production performance of the prototype’s circuit patterns. Conclusions: The first phase prototypes with mortar presented worst results than the ones with clay, as they had lower conductivity values and the ones with a distinct graphene circuit in the middle were cracking. The second phase prototypes with the metal reinforcement were structurally satisfying and the conductivity of the graphene – pvp composite was adequate for an electrical circuit. The heat produced from the brick after applying power was enough to render it comparable in terms of power consumption to existing heating systems. The problems observed in this process were mostly deriving from the shrinkage of the graphene – pvp composite that compromised the bricks structure and the reliability of the circuit and also from the complexity of the fabrication process. GRAPHENE COMPOSITE Research work in Digital Matter || Intelligent Constructions - DMIC- Institute of Advanced Architecture - IaaC - FabLab BCN Year. 016 017 Research team : Javier López-Alascio Hervás, Gelder Van Limburg Stirum, Ricardo Mayor Luque, Thanos Zervos Tutors: Areti Markopoulou - DMIC Leader Alex Dubor - FABRICATION Expert Angelos Chronis - Computational Expert Scientific supervision: Italian Institute of Technology - IIT- Carlos Saez Comet - Material Scientist Thanks to: Kunaljit Chadha - Expert in Robotics at IaaC- Giovanni Perotto - Italian Institute of Technology - IIT- Chenthur Raaghav Naagendran

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