Functionalized graphene oxide reinforced epoxy: Fabrication and property enhancement

Herein, the effect of functionalized Graphene oxide (F-GO) nanofillers incorporation on enhancing the thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy was examined. To achieve this, GO that inherently possess high aspect ratio, oxygen based functional groups, and high barrier effect was chemically functionalized with Diethylenetriamine (DETA) by following a cost-effective single-step protocol. GO and F-GO were subsequently added to the epoxy based matrix to study comparative thermal and mechanical behavior with varying filler concentration. The F-GO was characterized by using FTIR, TGA, DSC and XRD. It was noted that with the addition of F-GO, the tensile strength of the overall composite increased from 44.77 MPa to 277.11 MPa, and Young’s modulus from 20.57 GPa to 161.9 GPa upon which the elongation break reached from 46.52 % to 436.87 %. The considerable increase in tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness was seen when 0.3 wt% GO and F-GO was added. Further, an enhanced temperature resistance was recorded against F-GO based nanocomposites. In brief, the current study highlights a high scalable and efficient strategy for producing high-performance epoxy nanocomposites using minimal filler content. • Chemical functionalization of Graphene oxide(GO) with Diethylenetriamine (DETA) by following a cost-effective single-step protocol. • Effect of Functionalized Graphene oxide (F-GO) nanofillers on enhancing the thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy. • Incorporation of GO and F-GO to the epoxy based matrix to study comparative thermal and mechanical behavior with varying filler concentration. • Effect of Graphene based material on the final nanocomposite matrix with respect to tensile strength, Young’s modulus, toughness, temperature resistance.