THE ROLE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THERMALLY REDUCED GRAPHENE OXIDE ON PROPERTIES OF EPOXY RESIN-BASED COMPOSITES

摘要

Epoxy resins represent an important kind of polymers due to their strong adhesion and excellent overall mechanical behavior, high thermal and chemical resistance[1]. The intrinsic properties of epoxy resins make them suitable for a wide spectrum of applications in diverse areas such as adhesives, paints and coatings, aerospace and electrical systems[2]. The incorporation of graphene materials into the epoxy formulation is expected to improve the mechanical performance of epoxy resins but also to bring new functionalities like enhanced electrical and thermal conductivities [3, 4]. Graphene is a 2D material with a one-atom thick planar sheet of sp~2 bonded carbon atoms in a hexagonal lattice with excellent properties like Young's modulus (lTPa), high electrical (6000 S cm~(-1)) and thermal conductivity (5000 W m~(-1) K~(-1)) and a good fracture toughness performance[5]. The chemical route offers a way to produce graphene materials in a large scale with different structure and properties[6]. Surface area, oxygen content, aromatic domains size and flakes lateral size, can be tailored depending on the applied methodology and the parent graphite used[7,8]. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of the structure of graphene materials obtained by thermal reduction of graphene oxide (TRGOs) at different temperatures on the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of epoxy resin composites.