Investigating the effects of silane-functionalised graphene oxide surface treatment on the mechanical and interfacial behaviour of flax-epoxy composites.
Graphene oxide is a nano-material with impressive mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties. As it becomes more and more available, its use cases become more widely applicable.
Natural fibre composites have lower environmental impact, improved lifecycle and lower cost compared to synthetic carbon and glass fibre composites. However, they have lower compatibility and reduced interfacial properties with polymer matrices.
We aim to solve this problem by conducting a parametric analysis on flax fibres and flax fibre composites treated with NaOH (sodium hydroxide) followed by GO (graphene oxide). Flax fibres were dip coated in NaOH solutions with concentrations ranging between 0.5-10% for durations between 1 hour to 24 hours followed by GO suspensions of concentrations ranging between 0.2-1% at durations between 30 minutes and 2 hours.
Tensile tests as well as microbond tests on treated single fibers were performed to assess the tensile properties and interfacial shear strength of the fibers.
Results indicated that NaOH treatment followed by GO treatment significantly increases the tensile strength and modulus of flax-epoxy composites compared to control samples. This provides insights on properties of GO as well as improving material properties of natural fiber composites through NaOH and GO pre-treatment.
NaOH and GO treated flax/epoxy composites were then prepared at optimal conditions identified through single fiber tests, and tested to failure on an Instron tensile tester to evaluate the degree of improvement attributable to NaOH and GO treatments.
Now, we are working on analysing the Acoustic Emissions (AE) emitted during the tensile testing of these composite panels.
