Application of graphene oxide as (nano) reinforcement in epoxy composites

Composite with nanometric particles have been used as a structural reinforcement to improve the mechanical properties in polymeric materials. The use of graphene has shown excellent results such as Young's modulus of 1 TPa, tensile strength of about 130 GPa, thermal conductivity of 5000 W/mK, electrical conductivity of up to 6000 S/cm, in addition to presenting great carrier mobility of loads of 2x105 cm2.V-1.s1. Thus, the mechanical properties in the epoxy resin based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A were evaluated with the addition of increasing percentages of graphene oxide (GO) in order to evaluate the mechanical properties in this material. The synthesis of GO was made from natural graphite by the Hummers method. The nanostructured composites were manufactured with a mixture of 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.5% and 1% by weight of GO. The characterizations of the materials were made by FTIR-ATR, DRX, RAMAN, MEV and TGA. The mechanical properties were evaluated by increasing the impact energy Izod absorbed in composites with lower GO content. The results showed that with the increase in the amount of graphene oxide there was an increase in the mechanical properties and that the increase in the OG charge in the matrix generated agglomerations, impairing the impact absorption in the mechanical properties of the material making it necessary a rigorous process of dispersion of these nanometric materials in the polymeric matrix.