Multi-Scale Experimental Analysis of Hybrid Carbon/CNT+Graphene Composites
Viviane C. Munhoz1; Aline M. Oliveira1; Elvis C. Monteiro2; Antônio F. Ávila1
1 UFMG; 2 UGMG
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-1873
Resumo
The addition of carbon based nanostructures as nanofillers in composite materials has been reported to improve its mechanical properties. However, these structures have the tendency to agglomerate due to the van der Waals forces between nanotubes and graphene sheets. Some studies have reported the use of surfactants to overcome this problem. This research goal is to analyze the surfactant effect on the overall behavior of carbon/epoxy composites nano-modified by graphene and carbon nanotubes. Multi-layered graphene and multiwall carbon nanotubes were dispersed with two different surfactants, i.e. Sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) and Polyoxyethylenenonylphenyl ether (IGEPAL® CO-890). The morphological analysis was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy, while the macroscopic behavior follows the mechanical characterization by tensile tests (ASTM D 3039) and three point bending test (ASTM D 790). The stiffness seems to be insensible to functionalized nanostructures, in both tensile and bending tests. Nevertheless, an improvement on the ultimate strength of 23.5% for tensile tests and of 11.4% for bending tests was observed when the non-ionic CO890 surfactant was employed.
Palavras-chave: Carbon Nanotubes; Graphene; Surfactant; Nanocomposites