Mechanical characteristics of epoxy nanocomposites derived through reinforcing carbonaceous fillers

Abstract

Epoxy nanocomposites (ENCs) were fabricated through reinforcing various carbonaceous fillers (CFs, 3.0 wt%) into epoxy resin followed by curing with polyamine hardener. For this purpose, nanographite (NG), pine needle cone derived biochar (BC), and related graphene oxide (GO) were used as fillers for epoxy modification. Test specimens were fabricated and investigated for their tensile (ASTM D 638-02a), compressive (ASTM D 695-02a) and dynamic mechanical (ASTM E1820-01) behavior with reference to cure epoxy. Effect of chemical identity of CFs on morphology and average roughness of ENCs was investigated through atomic force microscopy. Study reveals that ENCs derived from GO exhibited maximum tensile strength (84.75 MPa) as compare to the other NG and BC derived analogues. ENCs derived through reinforcing NG has exhibited maximum elastic modulus (1307.72 MPa) in compare to their GO and BC derived analogues. ENCs derived through reinforcing BC have exhibited maximum compressive strength (46.93 MPa) and modulus (102.98 MPa) in comparision to their NG and GO analogues. Dynamic mechanical analysis reveals moderate shift in glass transition temperature (Tg, °C) of ENCs derived from GO (77.73) and NG (81.75) ranging to over cured epoxy (66.67).However, reinforcing BC into epoxy has raised the Tg of ENCs to 95.46 °C.