Experimental study on mechanical properties of graphene oxide/epoxy nonocomposites in different strain rates

In this paper, the mechanical behavior of the Graphene Oxide (GO)/ epoxy nanocomposites has been investigated under different strain rates. To reach this goal, GO nano sheets were synthesized through Hummers method (a chemical method) and then GO/epoxy nanocomposite was prepared using the solution-based method. Standard specimens test were made from nanocomposite. In order to study the static and dynamic behavior of material, the static pressure test and the split pressure hopkinson bar test were performed on the specimens, respectively. The results showed that the stiffness and the strength of epoxy increase with adding GO to it. It was found that the behavior of epoxy is dependent on the strain rate so intense that its dynamic strength is more than static one about 50%. Furthermore, the effect of GO in low strain rates is more than high strain rates such that adding 0.3% weight ratio of GO increase the strength of epoxy by nearly 20% and 5% in 0.01 s^(-1) and 1100 s^(-1) of strain rates, respectively. In addition, the comparison of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images from the fracture surfaces of neat epoxy and its composite showed that the surface toughness of nanocomposite is more than epoxy’s.