Processing Of Glass Fiber Pultruded Composites Using Graphene Nanoplatelets Modified Epoxy Matrix

Abstract

Abstract The addition of graphene nanoplatelets to polymers improves their mechanical properties. In this work, a nanocomposite has been prepared initially by adding graphene nanoplatelets to the thermoset epoxy resin. An amount of 0.1 wt % graphene nanoplatelets which are in the powder form have been mixed with the resin and stirred at room temperature using high speed stirrer. This resin is further used as a matrix material to process a Glass Fiber Reinforced Composite (GFRP). The resin, hardener and graphene nanoplatelets powders are proportionally mixed to avoid the resin curing in the pre-die and resin bath zone. Unidirectional composites have been pultruded by pulling the continuous glass fibers through the graphene modified epoxy resin mixture. The processed composites have been examined through SEM and EDS analysis to confirm the presence and distribution of graphene nanoplatelets. Tensile tests have been carried out at room temperature on these composite specimens to investigate the effect of graphene nanoplatelets addition. The test samples have been cut from the unidirectional pultruded composite. It is observed that the sample failure occurs through the damage initiation and growth in the matrix. The ultimate tensile strength and the longitudinal modulus increased by approximately by 12% and 7% respectively with the addition of 0.1 wt% graphene nanoplatelets to the epoxy.