Preparation and mechanical properties of graphene/ epoxy composites by in situ reduction of graphene oxide

Graphene(GO)/epoxy composites were prepared by sonicate-mixing method and in situ reducing graphene oxide in the presence of the epoxy matrix. The structures of the as-prepared composites were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), XRD, optical microscopy and SEM. In addition, the mechanical properties of the composites were also investigated using mechanical testing machine. XPS results indicate that graphene oxide has been reduced to GO in epoxy matrix. X-ray diffraction patterns, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope images indicate that that graphene are well-dispersed in the epoxy matrix. Compared to pristine epoxy, the tensile strength and flexural strength of graphene/epoxy composites prepared by sonicate-mixing method increase by 29.2% and 1.4% respectively with the addition of 0.3% graphene. While the graphene/epoxy composites prepared by in situ reduction method show 40.5% improvement in tensile strength and 9.4% improvement in flexural strength with only 0.3% of graphene.