Investigation of effect of graphene nanoparticle reinforced on mechanical properties of composite materials

Composite materials, nowadays, have usage area in the majority of engineering structures. In this direction, it is of great importance to determine the mechanical properties of the produced composite materials and to improve their properties. In recent years, researchers have concentrated on improving the mechanical properties of composite materials. As a result, it has been found that nanosize graphene (G) is a reinforcement element which has a significant effect on improving the mechanical properties of the composite. In this study, the effects of G on tensile strength of composite were determined. In this direction, G having 0% (unreinforced), 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%, and 1% rates was added to epoxy matrix. Epoxy mixtures reinforced with G were, respectively, poured into molds prepared according to ASTM standards and allowed to cure. In addition, the epoxy mixtures containing 0% (unreinforced), 0.2% and 0.4% G by weight was added to the glass fiber (GF), carbon fiber (CF) and aramid fiber (AF) by hand lay-up. Thus, glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP), carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) and aramid fiber reinforced plastic (AFRP) composites, which contain different rates of G, were fabricated. Epoxy matrix composites reinforced with G, and composites reinforced with GF, CF, AF, and G were subjected to tensile testing. It was found that G reinforcement provided a significant increase in the strength of the epoxy matrix material and composites. While the unreinforced epoxy material had the lowest tensile strength, it was seen that the highest tensile strength in the composites reinforced with G was obtained from the composite containing 0.2% G. The tensile strength of the material increased with the addition of G up to 0.2% to epoxy. When it was added more, this increase decreased. In this respect, the maximum tensile strength was observed in epoxy composite reinforced with 0.2% G. Furthermore, the tensile strengths of G/fiber reinforced composites obtained by the addition of G to GF, CF, and AF continuously increased. However, despite the tensile strength of fiber composites reinforced with 0.4% G was highest, a significant increase wasn't observed compared to fiber composites reinforced with 0.2% G. In addition, in the fiber reinforced composites, tensile strengths by the addition of G reinforcement to the matrix material exhibited different behavior. In G/fiber reinforced composites obtained by the addition of G nanoparticle to GF, CF, and AF; it was observed that the highest increase was seen the tensile strength of the CFRP composite while the least increase was seen the tensile strength of the AFRP composite.