Abstract
This study investigated the effect of silane and surfactant treatments of graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) on the mechanical and thermal properties of silicone rubber (SR) composites. GnPs were modified with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS), and Triton X-100, and then the pristine GnPs and functionalized GnPs were individually incorporated into the SR. Compared with the pristine GnP/SR composite, the composites reinforced with modified GnP showed better tensile strength, elongation at break, and thermal conductivity properties due to better dispersion of modified GnPs and stronger interfacial interactions between the modified GnPs and matrix. The mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of the VTMS-GnP/SR composite were comparable to the properties of the Triton-GnP counterpart, but better than that of the APTES-GnP/SR composite. In addition, the VTMS-GnP/SR composite demonstrated the highest thermal stability and crystallization temperature among the four types of composites. The remarkable improvement of mechanical and thermal properties of the VTMS-GnP/SR composite was mainly due to the covalent linkage of VTMS-GnP with SR. The VTMS treatment was a more appropriate modification of GnP particles to improve the multifunctional properties of SR.
Highlights
In recent years, carbon nanofillers such as carbon nanofibers (CNFs) [1], carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [2] and graphene [3] have attracted significant interest all over the world, owing to their inherently high mechanical strength, and good electrical and thermal conductivity
With different treatments the that mechanical and thermal showed a considerable improvement in the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity after properties of Graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs)/silicone rubber (SR) composites were investigated
It has been found that the SR composite showed a considerable improvement in the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity after surface modification of GnP
Summary
Carbon nanofillers such as carbon nanofibers (CNFs) [1], carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [2] and graphene [3] have attracted significant interest all over the world, owing to their inherently high mechanical strength, and good electrical and thermal conductivity. The approaches of modifying graphene/GnP can be mainly divided into two methods: (i) covalent bonding between the oxygen functional groups of graphene/GnP and modifiers; and (ii) non-covalent attachment of molecules on the surface of platelets The former approach is confirmed to be an effective way to achieve the enhanced interfacial interactions between the filler and matrix, and further increases the mechanical and thermal performance [12,13]. Wang et al [14] synthesized covalently functionalized graphene nanosheets (f-GNSs) by chemically grafting 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTS) and produced epoxy composite using f-GNSs as filler It showed that the tensile strength of epoxy resins was increased by 45% at 1 wt % f-GNSs; the initial thermal degradation temperature of epoxy composite was improved by 20 ̋ C at the same loading.
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