Production and characterization of Fe3O4/ZnO /CNT and Fe3O4/ZnO/graphene doped epoxy composites

The aim of this study is to produce, nano-sized Fe3O4 (magnetite), nano-sized ZnO (zinc oxide), carbon nanotube and graphene-doped epoxy nanocomposite were produced. In the first stage of the composites, iron oxide from the required nanomaterials was synthesized by co-precipitation method. Surface modifications were carried out with APTES (3-Aminopropyl triethoxy silane) to prevent agglomeration of iron oxide, garfen and CNT and to ensure homogeneous dispersion in the epoxy resin. After the graphene, iron oxide and zinc oxide added to the epoxy resin by weighing in determined amounts, ensured that the iron oxide and zinc oxide were well dispersed in the resin, hardener was added and left to cure and the composites were made ready for characterization. The properties of the prepared composites were investigated by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis, mechanical tests and electrical conductivity measurements. According to the FT-IR results, surface modification of both graphene and Iron Oxide was observed to occur appropriately. As a result of mechanical tests such as breaking strength, modulus of elasticity and elongation, an increase was observed in the mechanical properties of the composites compared to epoxy resin. The tensile strength increased by 43.41 Mpa with 14% in composites containing graphene, iron oxide and zinc oxide, while it increased by 41Mpa with 8.5% in composites containing CNT, iron oxide and zinc oxide. In the modulus of elasticity values, an increase of 19% with 1579 Mpa and 7.5% with 1415.5 Mpa was observed, respectively. When it comes to elongation values, very good results were obtained. The elongation value increased by 80% and 87% compared to the epoxy without additives. According to the analyzes of UV-Visible spectrometers, the absorbance values due to the homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles in the composites formed were high. According to the electrical resistance measurement results, the effect of the difference in the additives on the resistance results was limited since the contribution rates were very low. It is seen that the highest resistance value (3.2036 1012 Ω. cm) belongs to the (K1) sample containing only CNT. The volumetric resistance of K5 containing CNT and ZnO was the lowest (2.4662 1012 Ω. cm).