Creep and Recovery Behaviors of Hybrid Graphene/CNT/Epoxy Nanocomposites

In the present study, the improvement creep resistance and recovery behaviors of epoxy resin by adding graphene (G) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been investigated. Four different hybrid nanocomposites, namely 0.1 wt.% G + 1 wt.% CNT / epoxy (Sample #1), 0.25 wt.% G + 1 wt.% CNT / epoxy (Sample #2), 0.5 wt.% G + 1 wt.% CNT / epoxy (Sample #3) and 0.5 wt.% G + 0.5 wt.% CNT / epoxy (Sample #4) were manufactured and tested. Nano fillers were dispersed into the resin by an ultrasonic apparatus. For each nano fillers with different weight fraction, the optimum sonication time was found. Tensile creep tests were carried out at 85 oC using a DMA apparatus for an hour and after that the constant load was removed and the strain recovery of samples was measured. Experimental observations on sample #4 showed the best improvement on creep resistance (64%) and recovery (71%) behaviors more than the other samples. Finally, using the Burger and Weibull models were used to fit the test data to predict the long-term creep and recovery strains.

Keywords:

Hybrid nanocomposites , Creep resistance , Recovery , DMA