Malaysias Micratto Technologies Sdn. – founded by researchers at Sunway University – will produce graphene-based lubricants for automotive applications next year, the company told Lube Report. The graphene is used as an additive to help reduce friction and wear.
The lubricant, named Infinoil, uses graphene as an additive, improving fuel efficiency in automotive and industrial applications. Graphene is said to be impermeable to liquids and gases, slowing down the corrosive and oxidative processes that usually cause damage to surfaces when there is friction. This property makes it useful in tribological applications. The company claims that its product reduces friction by 20 percent compared to conventional engine oils.
Photo: OliveTree/Shutterstock
A three-dimensional illustration of a graphene molecular grid. Malaysias Micratto Technologies Sdn. founded by researchers at Sunway University will produce graphene-based lubricants for automotive applications next year.
For now, we have tested and completed a proof of concept and did field trials for passenger cars, said Abdul Khaliq Rasheed, co-founder of Micratto Technologies.
Micratto said Infinoil was also tested at the F1 circuit in Sepang, Malaysia, fora 24-hour race last November and at third-party certified lab for 1,000 cubic centimeter, 1,800cc and 4-stroke single cylinder engines in motorcycles. The company claims Infinoil meets American Petroleum Institute, Society of Automotive Engineers and ASTM standards.
We have outsourced the lubricant production to a local original equipment manufacturer. However, the core technology – graphene-based additive – would be produced by Micratto Technologies, said Rasheed. Micratto Technologies will produce the graphene additive in Shah Alam in Selangor, Malaysia.
The company was set up this year and aims to launch Infinoil by the second quarter of 2019. This technology will be the first of its kind in Malaysia, and our current [additive] capacity would be over 100,000 liters per month, he said.
However, if the demand exceeds [that capacity], we will be able to expand the additive production in two weeks as well as secure more OEMs to outsource the lubricant production, Rasheed continued.
Infinoil will initially be sold in Malaysia but the company has already received requests to export to a few Asian countries, he said.
The company is also developing graphene-based lubricants for the industrial and aerospace industries.
Micratto Technologies founders Professor Mohammad Khalid and Rasheed are researchers at the Graphene and Advanced 2D Materials Research Group at Sunway University. In 2017, the two scientists joined the group to develop graphene nano-lubricants. The research group is part of the universitys Research Centre of Nano-materials and Energy Technology at the university.