Enhancement of Electrical Conductivity and Assessment of Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Graphene/Epoxy Nanocomposites

Abstract

A three roll mill processing technique was used to disperse graphene nanoplatelets in epon 828 epoxy system. As a first step of this research, processing graphene/epoxy nanocomposites was explored with different weight percent of graphene. After establishing a repeatable process to achieve good electrical properties, the materials were tested for thermal conductivity and mechanical properties. The as received graphene nanoplatelets had average diameter of 25 microns, thickness 6-10 nanometers and epon 828 epoxy system were selected. Conventional mechanical mixing, sonication and three roll mill dispersion techniques were investigated. Based on this study three roll dispersion was found to be repeatable, consistent and scalable. Through the thickness (T-T-T) or volume electrical conductivity increased by nine log cycle, thermal conductivity doubled and fracture toughness increased by one-third over the base with 1.0 wt.% dispersion of graphene to epon 828. However, tensile and flexure properties changed little.