Synthesis, characterization, and determination of mechanical properties of epoxy nanocomposites from reduced grapheneoxide

Epoxy is a highly flexible and extensively marketed substance with exceptional mechanical qualities, thermal stability, chemical and corrosion resistance, little shrinkage, affordability, and simplicity of production. The unusual planar structure and exceptional mechanical characteristics, thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity of rGO make it very promising for the production of high-performance polymer nanocomposites. The next model transport motors have been developed to possess a higher strength-to-light weight ratio compared to the motors already in operation, achieved by the use of composites/nanocomposites that are made from carbon-based materials. Since polymer-based nanocomposites have different electrical, mechanical, and thermal characteristics from clean polymers, they have been used extensively in related fields like adhesive components. Epoxy/conducting filler nanocomposites exhibiting excellent mechanical characteristics have become known as a very promising material in the market. This study aims to investigate the thermal and mechanical properties of graphene/epoxy nanocomposites and in this work, a facile and low-cost method was adopted to prepare reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-epoxy nanocomposites. The rGO was obtained from Doruk Grafen (Anbiokim Doruk, Turkey) and characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). The rGO-Epoxy nanocomposite (rGO 5%) presented a 90% higher strain than neat epoxy. With the addition of 1% of rGO, the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, Young's modulus, and impact strength were enhanced by 24%, 16%, and 18%, respectively. It can be said that the stress-strain curve is improved very well by rGO. Another purpose of this research is to dielectric constant test results for the anti-radar properties of nanocomposite epoxy/rGO from the results of this test. It can be seen that the epoxy mixing with rGO has increased the dielectric constant and thermal conductivity. These results show that the obtained nanocomposites have potential anti-radar because the rGO-epoxy nanocomposite (rGO 3%) presented an 87% higher dielectric constant than neat epoxy. The thermal conductivities tend to increase with increasing rGO content at room temperature. The maximum thermal conductivity recorded was 0.210 W/mK for the 3 wt% rGO/epoxy composite. The corresponding thermal conductivity of the neat epoxy polymer is 0.170 W/mK.