Exfoliated Graphite/Graphite Nanosheet-Epoxy Nanocomposites Revealed from the View Point of Synthesis Bottleneck: doi: 10.14456/mijet.2015.6

S. J. Pawar; W. S. Kuo; J. H. Huang

Authors

S. J. Pawar Department of Applied Mechanics, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, (UP), Pin-211004
W. S. Kuo Department of Aerospace and Systems Engineering, Feng Chia University, Taichung 40724
J. H. Huang Electroacoustic Graduate Program and Department of Mechanical and Computer-Aided Engineering, Feng Chia University, Taichung 40724

Keywords:

graphite, graphite nanosheets, nanocomposite, natural graphite, three roll mill

Abstract

This brief work illustrates the comparison between exfoliated graphite and graphite nanosheet reinforced polymeric nanocomposite. It involves exfoliation of natural graphite to form exfoliated graphite by intercalation and thermal exposure. Highly porous exfoliated graphite was mixed with epoxy to synthesize nanocomposite with the help of high shear-strain rate by three-roll mill. The velocity difference between roll induces high shear-strain rate in the rolls gap for better mixing. It creates a shear stress in the viscous mixture to disperse the exfoliated graphite in the epoxy and tear apart exfoliated graphite simultaneously so as to get graphite nanosheets. The multiple passes of this mixture at changing roll gap eventually assist in mixing and tearing apart of exfoliated graphite. Addition of hardener to this mixture, followed by oven curing and room temperature curing leads to polymer based nanocomposite. During this work, EG-epoxy and GNS-epoxy nanocomposites were synthesized and evaluated by scanning electron micrography studies. Finally, this paper illustrates the issues related to synthesis of exfoliated graphite/graphite nanosheets-epoxy nanocomposite. These issues are related to (a) Intercalation, (b) Exfoliation, and (c) Mixing. Each issue is discussed and illustrated.