Development of epoxy composites with graphene nanoplatelets and micro-sized carbon foam: Morphology and thermal, mechanical and tribological properties
Karolina Olszowska, Marcin Godzierz, Sławomira Pusz, J. Myalski, Anastasiia Kobyliukh, G. Georgiev, A. Posmyk, Boyko Tsyntsarski, Urszula Szeluga
Abstract
The effect of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and carbon foam (CF) micrograins on the morphology and thermomechanical and tribological properties of epoxy composites was determined. The binary composites containing separately CF grains or GNPs and multiphase composites with CF particles and GNPs together obtained by two procedures were studied. In the first method GNPs were dispersed initially in epoxy resin and then CF particles were introduced. In the second procedure, conversely, CF particles were distributed in polymer before GNPs addition. CF simultaneously applied with GNPs strongly improves storage modulus, hardness and thermal stability of composites and reduces the friction coefficient and the wear rate compared to epoxy matrix. The composite fabricated by the first method exhibited better tribological properties, especially considering the higher wear load.