Influence of nano graphene addition on mechanical properties of Bi-directional carbon fabric based epoxy composites

The carbon bi-directional fabric as reinforcement in a polymer matrix has played an essential role in dynamically developing lightweight composites in various applications such as automotive, wind energy, aerospace, and sports sectors. Further, the interfacial bonding between the matrix and reinforcement/filler is the weakest point and the most crucial factor that influences the mechanical and tribological performance of the composites. Therefore, the hand lay-up technique fabricated a bi-directional carbon fabric epoxy composite with varying nanographene concentrations. The developed composites were tested and evaluated for their mechanical properties, viz., tensile, flexural and impact strengths. It is observed that these mechanical properties are mainly dependent on the reinforcement type and its concentration. Furthermore, composite with 0.8 wt% nanographene exhibits superior performance in terms of increased tensile (579 MPa), flexural (547 MPa) and impact (284 J/m) strengths in comparison with other composites.