Open Access

ARTICLE

Quasi-Static and Low-Frequency Dynamic Mechanical Analysis Characterization of Graphene Nanoplatelets/Glass Fabric/Bisphenol-A-Based Epoxy Nanocomposites

Santhanakrishnan Mamallan¹, Venkateshwaran Narayanan^1,*, Canungo Bhimarao Ragothaman²
1 Centre of Excellence in Digital Manufacturing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, 602015, India
2 Department of Management Studies, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, 602105, India
* Corresponding Author: Venkateshwaran Narayanan. Email:

Journal of Polymer Materials https://doi.org/10.32604/jpm.2024.056744

Received 30 July 2024; Accepted 05 September 2024; Published online 25 September 2024

Abstract

Glass fabric/polymer composites are widely used in various industrial applications due to their lightweight, exceptional strength, and fatigue resistance. Graphene nanoplatelets, a recently developed type of carbon material, stand out as unique nanofillers due to their 2D quantum confinement and expansive surface area within a polymer matrix. These features make them more effective than traditional carbon nanofillers at enhancing a range of properties. In this study, 3-weight % of graphene nanoplatelets with epoxy resin were used for investigation by varying sonication durations (0, 20, 40, and 60 min) using an ultrasonic bath sonicator. The laminates were made using the hand layup technique followed by compression molding to reduce the void content. Mechanical and dynamic mechanical characteristics of the fabricated nanocomposites were investigated. Tensile strength, Tensile modulus, and Flexural modulus were increased by 12.63%, 10.76%, and 32.55%, respectively, when the sonification duration was 40 min. The dynamic mechanical analysis at 1, 5, and 10 Hz frequencies to study the viscoelastic behavior of samples. From dynamic mechanical analysis, the sample with a 40-min sonication duration was observed to have better properties than the other samples.

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Keywords

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA); graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs); sonication; glass fabric-epoxy composite

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