A Study on Synthesis of Polyurethane/Functionalized Graphene Nanocomposites by In-situ Intercalation Method

Graphene oxide was synthesized from natural graphite, and its surface was modified using diisocyanatodicyclohexylmethane(H12MDI). Isocyanate-graphene sheet(i-RGO) was obtained by reduction of surface modified GO. To select nanofiller having good dispersion with polyurethane, GO, i-RGO, natural graphite and thermal reduced graphite were analyzed, and then i-RGO was selected as a suitable nanofiller. PU/i-RGO nanocomposite was synthesized with various i-RGO contents to estimate effect of reinforcement on nanocomposite. Thermal stability, hardness, contact angle were increased with i-RGO contents due to i-RGO characteristic and crosslink bridge effect. But, tensile strength and elongation were decreased at i-RGO contents more than the 4 wt%. This phenomenon was interpreted by the excess formation of crosslink bridge.