Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Functionalized Graphene Oxide on the Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Adhesive

In the present paper, the effect of addition of a functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) on the mechanical properties of an epoxy adhesive was investigated. GO was first prepared by oxidation of graphite using Modified Hummers’ method. Then silane coupling agents 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was used for surface modification of GO. The solution mixing method is used for dispersing 0.1 wt%, 0.2 wt% and 0.3 wt% amine-modified graphene oxide (GO-NH2) in the epoxy adhesive to investigate the tensile and shear properties of the nano-composite. The tensile and shear properties of the neat and GO-NH2 reinforced epoxy adhesives were determined using the bulk and the thick adherend shear test (TAST) specimens, respectively. Significant improvements in the mechanical properties have been observed by the addition of nano-fillers in epoxy adhesive. The highest improvement in strength was obtained by 0.1 wt% loading of GO-NH2. So that, the addition of 0.1 wt% of FGO increases the Young’s modulus, tensile strength, toughness and shear modulus by 35% , 44%, 53% and 34%, respectively.