By Josh Perry, Editor
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Researchers from the Graphene Flagship and its many partners in academia and industry from across Europe are finding a number of new applications for graphene in aerospace, according to multiple reports.

Graphene Flagship partners Aernnova, Grupo Antolin-Ingenieria and Airbus produced a lighter 'leading edge' piece. (Graphene Flagship)

The Graphene Flagship reported that its partners Aernnova, Grupo Antolin-Ingenieria and Airbus  have used graphene to build a leading edge, the part of the wing that first makes contact with the air, for an Airbus A350. Graphene made the leading edge thinner and lightweight without impacting performance.

“As the first part of the tail plane to contact air, the leading edge is subjected to extreme temperatures caused by compressive heating of the air ahead of the wing,” the report explained. “Thus it must possess excellent mechanical and thermal properties.”

Adding graphene to the resin that was already in use enhanced the material, including a decreased fracture speed, which could lead to reduced fuel consumption.

ECN Magazine also reported on several research projects that are going on across Europe in collaboration between the Graphene Flagship and the European Space Agency (ESA) to use graphene in aerospace applications.

At Delft Technical University (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, students are testing graphene’s potential as a solar sail material. The students have tested the material in microgravity conditions to see if propulsion was possible.

“To create microgravity conditions,” the article explained, “a capsule containing cameras, lasers and graphene was allowed to fall down a 150-metre tower, leading to 4.5 seconds of weightlessness. The radiation pressure from shining high-power laser light onto the graphene membrane caused the sail to move. The team measured this displacement with a microscope to determine the thrust on the graphene sails.”

Other researchers from the Free University of Brussels (ULB) in Belgium, the University of Cambridge (U.K.) and others are testing graphene as a coating to enhance satellite cooling systems, particularly in loop heat pipes.

“The material was brought aboard a parabolic flight in Novespace Zero-G aircraft, where microgravity conditions are created for intervals of about 24 seconds at a time,” the article said. “The team conducted 6 flights, each making 31 parabolic arcs, for a total of over 1 hour in microgravity.”