Improved Damping and High Strength of Graphene-Coated Nickel Hybrid Foams

Direct growth of graphene on the metal surface opens a door for obtaining high-performance composites in a simple way. In order to obtain both high strength and enhanced damping property of the porous metal, we prepared graphene-coated nickel hybrid foams by chemical vapor deposition technique and investigated the static and dynamic mechanical properties using a dynamic mechanical analyzer and vibration testing systems in detail. We found that the presence of graphene layers could greatly improve both mechanical strength and damping properties of nickel foams. The graphene-coated nickel hybrid foams exhibited high yield strength, compressive modulus, and damping ratio, increased by 46, 22, and 53% in comparison with those of nickel foams. Such significant graphene reinforcement in mechanical and damping properties is mainly attributed to the strong interfacial bonding, remarkable confinement effect, and rich interfaces in hybrid foams. By virtue of its high mechanical strength and enhanced damping properties, the graphene/nickel hybrid foams have great potential to be used as multifunctional composite materials in many fields.