STRESS EVALUATION OF NANOCOMPOSITESWITH NANOPLATELETS

摘要

Graphite nanoplatelets consisting of one or a few graphene sheets are expected to be an excellentchoice for the reinforcement phase of composites. While carbon nanotubes provide reinforcement injust one direction, graphite nanoplatelets are effective in two directions. Thus graphite nanoplateletswill yield a higher degree of stiffening and strengthening in most applications where thesereinforcements are expected to be randomly distributed.In the present paper, a graphite crystal of a layered structure, which is embedded in a polymer matrix,is analyzed to investigate the effect of exfoliation. When the reinforcement volume fraction is keptconstant, more uniform layer separation is shown to improve the stiffening efficiency and reduce thestress concentration in the matrix. The analysis result clearly shows the beneficial effect of fullexfoliation. The analysis is further extended to the case of random distribution of graphitenanoplatelets with prediction of the resulting composite moduli. The results are discussed with a viewtoward developing guidelines on the dispersion quality required for the maximum reinforcementefficiency.