Graphene-coated Motorcycle Helmet Debuts in EuropeChuck Heschmeyer | December 04, 2016
The Italian Institute of Technology has teamed with a design company to produce a graphene-coated motorcycle helmet that they say improves safety.
The coating reportedly makes the helmet less susceptible to damage and also improves wearer comfort by reducing heat buildup.
The helmet is a Graphene Flagship collaborative project with researchers from the Italian Institute of Technology, IIT, and Italian company Momodesign. Researchers say that coating graphene onto the exterior shell of the helmet allows for better distribution of impact force. This makes the helmet less susceptible to damage compared to helmets without graphene, even in high-temperature conditions.
In addition to improved safety, the thermal conductive property of the graphene coating dissipates heat across the helmet. This protects the interlining materials from degradation caused by heat, and also provides a more comfortable user experience.
An IIT spin-out company, Bedimensional, has been formed to bring the technology to market. An initial run of 3,000 helmets has been produced for sale in specialty markets. The helmets are made in a plant in northern Italy where the graphene-coating procedure has been integrated directly into the existing production line.
The Graphene Flagship is a European consortium of more than 150 academic and industrial research groups in 23 countries whose mission is to help bring graphene-based technologies from lab to fab.