Experimental Analysis of Epoxy and Graphene Nanoplatelet/Epoxy Composites

The tensile behavior of graphenenanoplatelets(GNPs)in epoxy composite under tensile loadings was characterized using uniaxial tensile test at various strain rates ranging from 0.0356 to 0.14/min at room temperature. The stresses and the accompanied strains were measured with load cell and an extensometer, respectively. This investigation covers the effect of the amount of graphene in graphene/epoxy composite material system. The uniaxial tensile tests were done to investigate the tensile behavior of the material beyond ultimate tensile strength. The results showed that both the manufacturing and experimental procedure developed are excellent methods to characterize the response of GNP/epoxy composite to tensile loadings. Additionally, the results show a clear strain rate and amount of GNP in epoxy dependencies in the material response.