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Due to their high mechanical and transport properties, graphene-derived materials have aroused a great deal of interest in the most varied sectors. Among these, graphene nanoplatelets have been gaining interest due to the fact they can be synthesized in a way scalable to mass production, enabling them to be considered in the preparation of polymer nanocomposites. Nevertheless, the addition of graphene nanoplatelets into polymers using industrial melt-mixing machinery is still a challenge, mainly related to inadequate graphene dispersion during processing. Foaming could come as a possible strategy to maximize the efficiency of graphene nanoplatelets in polymers by improving its dispersion throughout the polymer matrix, at the same time enabling to considerably reduce the material’s density. This paper considers experimental examples of the improvement of the specific mechanical properties and enhancement of the electrical conductivity of different types of polymer foams thought for the most varied applications by incorporating graphene nanoplatelets using conventional plastic processing technologies, with the goal of developing new multifunctional lightweight polymer nanocomposites.

The aim of this work is to study the effect of the thermal cycling on the stability of SME and to follow the loss of SME as a result of DSC cycling. The structural evolution was examined by SEM, DSC and X-Ray diffraction using a heating holder that allows heating the samples. Different alloy compositions have been studied. There is a thermal degradation of the transformation because of the presence of equilibrium phases that change with cycling. A decrease of the transformation temperatures was found. Also the results show that the dependence of the amount of transformation with cycle number is not dependent of the composition for Ag contents from 4 to 15 wt%.