Manufacturing and characterization of graphene oxide reinforced composites

Abstract

The present work focuses on the mechanical characterization of polymer matrix composites reinforced with graphene oxide (GO) nanostructures. Firstly, the selection of the polymer matrix, the parameters for performing a proper curing and the fabrication of the composite material are carried out. The proposed procedure results in an adequate dispersion of the GO, without the need for solvents, which positively influences the mechanical properties of the resulting material. The epoxy resin selected as matrix is ​​reinforced with different percentages of GO in order to study the influence of the reinforcement on the apparent mechanical properties. The composites obtained using such nanostructures are characterized by compression and three-point bending testing. Through the use of the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique is possible to evaluate the strain state of the material during the tests. This behaviour is combined with the analytical estimations developed to take into account in the results of the bending testing the difference of the tensile and compressive elastic properties of the material. In addition, numerical simulations are developed by applying both the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) whose results are used to validate the experimental data and the analytical model.

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