F. VAHEDI - Materials Science and Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tarbiatstodares University, Jalal Ale Ahmad Highway, Tehran, ۱۴۱۱۵-۱۱۱, Iran
H. SHAHIVERDI - Materials Science and Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, TarbiatModares University, Jalal Ale Ahmad Highway, Tehran, ۱۴۱۱۵-۱۱۱, Iran
M. M. SHOKRIEH - Composites Research Laboratory, Center of Excellence in Experimental Mechanics and Dynamics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Narmak, ۱۶۸۴۶-۱۳۱ ۱۴, Iran

Graphene great physical and mechanical properties have attracted many attentions during recent years. Graphene has been already used in few reports to enhance the mechanical and electrical properties of polymer matrix composites. In this research, effects of fabrication methods (solution and in-situ polymerization) on mechanical properties (tension and bending) were investigated. Graphene at various contents (0.05, 0.1 and 0.25 wt.%) was dispersed via mechanical stirring and sonication techniques in epoxy resin. Tetrahydrofuran (THF) was used in solution method to reduce the suspension viscosity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to image the graphene particles. The tensile and flexural tests are performed on fabricated nanocomposites. It is found that addition of graphene at very low content (0.05 wt.%) increases the mechanical properties. However, introducing more filler leads to deterioration of properties. SEM results show that the more filler is added, the more agglomeration can be seen in the specimens. Thus it is assumed that agglomerations lead to decrease in mechanical properties. Also, the mechanical tests results indicate that in-situ polymerization method has better effect on improving the tensile properties rather than the solution method although using solvent decreases the flexural properties.

Graphene, epoxy, mechanical properties, solvent