MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF GRAPHENE-NANOPARTICLE AND CARBON-NANOTUBE-REINFORCED PE-MATRIX NANOCOMPOSITES

摘要

In this study, graphene-nanoplatelet (GNP) and carbon-nanotube (CNT) reinforced nanocomposites were produced with pressure molding. 1 w/% of GNPs and 1 w/% of CNTs were separately added to a polyethylene (PE) matrix and 0.5 w/% of both reinforcements was also jointly added to the PE matrix. In this manner. the effects of GNPs and CNTs on the mechanical properties of PE were compared and the synergistic effect was investigated. In order to examine the mechanical properties, a tensile test, a hardness test and a wear test were applied to the produced samples. Also, fracture surfaces and wear surfaces were investigated with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was observed that the graphene was distributed homogeneously in the polyethylene matrix. Thus, the GNP-containing samples showed better mechanical properties than the CNT-containing samples.