A MICRO-MECHANICAL STUDY OF GRAPHENE REINFORCED EPOXY NANOCOMPOSITES

In this work, the efficiency of reinforcement for pristine graphene with two different lateral size and same thicknesses within the bulk epoxy nanocomposites has been studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed both graphene have a wide size distribution and the mean lateral size of Graphene A and Graphene B are 2.67 mu m and 1.37 mu m, respectively. Raman spectroscopy proved these two graphene materials were both produced with low defect concentration but are poorly exfoliated. Raman four point bending tests have been carried out to study the effect of the graphene size and thickness on the graphene reinforcement efficiency. The results indicate these two types of graphene can give moderate mechanical reinforcement to an epoxy matrix.