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A facile approach to synthesize in situ functionalized graphene oxide/epoxy resin nanocomposites: mechanical and thermal properties

  • Composites & nanocomposites
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Abstract

The complex preparation processes of GO/polymer composites are a limitation for their application. In this study, epoxy composites filled with in situ functionalized graphene oxide (GO) were prepared by a facile wet mixing and solvent evaporation method. The structure and composition of 3′,4′-epoxycyclohexylmethyl-3,4-epoxycyclohexanecarboxylate (2021P)-functionalized GO (GO-2021P) were characterized. With surface modification, GO became more thermally stable and changed its nature from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. The influences of surface functionalization on the morphology of GO, its dispersion in the epoxy matrix, the mechanical and thermal behavior of the composites were fully investigated. With grafting of 2021P, the dispersion/exfoliation status of GO and interfacial interaction between GO and epoxy matrix were much improved. For epoxy composite with 1.0 wt% GO-2021P, the tensile strength and Young’s modulus increased by 34.0% and 25.9%, respectively. Increased glass transition temperature and thermal stability were also observed by dynamic mechanical analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. High-performance functionalized GO/epoxy composites can be produced using this technique.

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Acknowledgements

The work described in this paper was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (Grant No. JC2018015). The authors are very grateful for the financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China

    Gang Xue, Bin Zhang & Caizhao Liu

  2. Institute of Petrochemistry, Heilongjiang Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150040, China

    Gang Xue, Bin Zhang, Jiye Xing, Mingming Sun, Xugang Zhang, Jianhui Li, Lei Wang & Caizhao Liu

  3. Institute of Advanced Technology, Heilongjiang Academy of Sciences, Harbin, 150020, China

    Bin Zhang, Mingming Sun, Xugang Zhang & Caizhao Liu

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  1. Gang Xue
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Correspondence to Bin Zhang.

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Xue, G., Zhang, B., Xing, J. et al. A facile approach to synthesize in situ functionalized graphene oxide/epoxy resin nanocomposites: mechanical and thermal properties. J Mater Sci 54, 13973–13989 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03901-1

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