Increase in surface hardness of stainless steel through graphene growth on stainless steel surface by chemical vapor deposition using waste vegetable oil as a carbon source

Abstract

Abstract Stainless steel has been widely utilized due to it high resistance of corrosion, rust, and stain more than ordinary steel. However, a hardness of stainless-steel surface is not high resulting in engineering applications of stainless steel are limited. Graphene is an extremely hard material therefore the growth of graphene on stainless steel can increase the surface hardness of stainless steel. Vegetable oil consists of triglyceride which has abundant carbon in the constituent. Vegetable oil has been widely used for cooking. After the cooking, a huge amount of the waste vegetable oil is flushed down the drain resulting in water pollution. However, the waste vegetable oil still contains abundant carbon which can be used as a carbon source for graphene growth on stainless steel by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In this study, the surface hardening of stainless steel through graphene growth on stainless steel by CVD using waste palm oil as a carbon source is demonstrated. The results show that the fourth-used palm oil can be utilized as a carbon source for the growth of graphene on stainless steel by CVD. Moreover, the graphene growth on stainless steel by CVD using the fourth-used palm oil can increase the surface hardness of stainless steel by 175%.