Tensile and flexural behaviour of a graphene/epoxy composite: experiments and simulation

Abstract

The tensile and flexural behaviour of a graphene nanoplatelet (GnP) reinforced polymer, Grade M25 GnP / Araldite LY564 is experimentally investigated. This is followed by a multi-scale finite element model to simulate the tensile response as the most critical loading case. The approach is based on the multi-scale method and consists of a unit cell and a representative volume element (RVE). At the unit cell level, the material nanocharacteristics (filler geometry, phase mechanical properties, interfacial properties) are used to calculate the local tensile response. The material architecture is simulated at the RVE level by distributing the locally obtained unit cell mechanical properties, using periodic boundary conditions. A statistical sample was studied and the average mechanical characteristics were compared to the macroscopic measured stress–strain data. Finally, the simulation methodology was validated by comparisons between the effective experimental and numerical results.