Evaluation of elastic properties of graphene nanoplatelet reinforced aluminium matrix nanocomposites

The present work puts forward the determination of elastic properties of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) reinforced aluminium (Al) matrix nanocomposites, with different volume fractions and aspect ratios of GNP. Three analytical models (AMs), namely the Halpin-Tsai model, the Shear-Lag model, and the Gao-Zhang (GZ) model, were taken into consideration for the evaluation of Young's modulus of GNP/Al nanocomposite (GANC). Four cases with different dimensions of GNP have been considered for understanding the characteristics of different AMs. The Young's modulus values calculated using different AMs have been compared with experimental results (EXRs). It was observed that the GZ model shows acceptable agreement with the EXRs. For further evaluation of Poisson's ratio of GANC, two AMs, viz. rule of mixture (ROM) and Eshelby model have been used. It can also be concluded that for the evaluation of Poisson's ratio, the Eshelby model is a better choice than ROM.