The Flash Joule Graphene Synthesis System was my senior project and the culmination of all my learning at University of the Pacific. This project won the award for the best senior project. The project consisted of increasing throughput, enhancing safety measures, and adding user-friendly features to the Rice University Flash Graphene synthesis process. This was accomplished in a three strep process.

Pre-Processing:

The Post Processing stage consisted of prepping carbon samples to be turned into graphene. This was accomplished by controlling mass and resistance.

Flash Graphene Synthesis:

The prepared samples were then connected to a electronic circuit, where it acted as a resistor. A large amount of energy determined by the set mass is released through a capacitor bank, which superheats the carbon sample. Cooling occurs immediately and quickly via radiation. Such fast heating and cooling prevents the layers of what would be graphite from sticking to each other, producing graphene.

Post-Processing:

A combination of carbon, graphite, and graphene are produced in this process, all of which remain in a powder form. A sieve stack is utilized with variable frequencies to allow the powders to flow and separate by grain size.

The Worm Gear Transmission project consisted of recreating existing gearbox and modifying it to be manufactured using a 3 axis CNC machine. The design was created in Solidworks using measurements taking from a physical model, which was then modified in order to be manufactured with certain constraints. The final model was examined using a digital CMM and had surface exceptional tolerances.