Investigations on effect of amine functionalised graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNPs) reinforcement on mechanical properties of epoxy resin

Graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNPs) are emerging nanofillers with appealing attributes, such as strong compatibility with a wide range of polymers, exceptional overall strength, and cost-efficiency. This research examines the influence of varying weight fractions of functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNPs) on the mechanical properties of epoxy resin. Various weight fractions of f-GNPs namely 0.2%, 0.4%,0.6%,0.8%,1% and 5% are added to epoxy resin. Combination of ultra-sonication and magnetic stirring was used for dispersing f-GNPs in epoxy resin. f-GNPs reinforcement showed improvement in tensile strength on epoxy except for 1% and 5% weight fractions. Dispersion of f-GNPs is found to be superior at lower f-GNPs concentrations. The experimental results reveal that incorporating f-GNPs enhances the ultimate tensile strength of epoxy resin by 11.79%, 12.47%, 10.12%, and 13.31% at weight fractions of 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, and 0.8%, respectively. This confirms the beneficial impact of amine-functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNPs) on epoxy resin. The highest improvement, 13.31%, was achieved at 0.8% f-GNPs, making it the optimal loading, which was subsequently utilized in the development of multiscale f-GNPs-reinforced Glass/Epoxy composites. This study also presents a detailed FTIR, LRS, XRD, TEM, SEM characterisation of amine functionalised graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNPs).