Comparative study of the influence of graphene nanoplatelets filler on the mechanical and tribological behavior of glass fabric-reinforced epoxy composites

The objective of this article is to examine the influence of different weight percentages (wt%) of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on the behavior of mechanical and abrasive wear. Furthermore, the influence of operating parameters, such as, different degrees of applied loads and abrading distance (5-20 N and 100-250 m, respectively) at a rotational speed of 200 rpm (1.047 m/s) against SiC paper of 400 grit size was studied. From the present study, it was possible to establish that performance of the glass fabric-reinforced epoxy composite materials can be improved with incorporation of GNPs. Moreover, incorporation of a large amount (1 wt%) of GNPs was found to noticeably enhance the tribo-performance, ILSS, and hardness of the composite materials. However, the tensile strength was noted to increase negligibly with incorporation of 1 wt% of GNPs as compared to 0.5 wt% of GNPs. To get an insight into the wear mechanisms, the abraded surface of the tribological samples was examined by scanning electronic microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray. Their morphology was correlated with wear volume and specific wear rate data trends. Worn surface features analysis indicated that incorporation of GNPs mainly improved the fiber-matrix interface, which resists easy pullout of fibers from matrix/fillers and enables higher wear resistance.