Thermomechanical behavior of graphene nanoplatelets and bamboo micro filler incorporated epoxy hybrid composites

The present study is focused on the development of micro bamboo filler/epoxy hybrid composite with the incorporation of varied weight percentage of graphene nanoplatelet (GNPs). To check the effect of inclusion of dual fillers on the structural x-ray diffraction (XRD), morphological analysis by Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) are carried out. The micro bamboo and GNPs filler in the epoxy polymer are incorporated to eradicate the problem associated with natural and synthetic fibers alignment, delamination, and anisotropic property in the thermoset composite materials. Results revealed that with the inclusion of graphene nanoplatelet with bamboo filler in epoxy composite improves the synergetic effect, which in turn increases the tensile, flexural, loss modulus and storage modulus of developed hybrid composite material. SEM analysis confirmed the proper distribution of fillers and their presence from XRD analysis. All fabricated hybrid composite displayed improved thermal conductivity value and a marginal increase in the corrosion rate. The overall result predicts that the improvement is quite better compared to neat or solo bamboo filler based epoxy composite. The improvement is ascribed due to the proper interfacial bonding or cross-link between micro bamboo filler/epoxy polymer with the addition of GNPs. Developed filler based hybrid composite may be utilized for the application of thermal interface material, circuit board, electronic packaging, etc.