Manufacturing and mechanical properties of graphene coated glass fabric and epoxy composites

The processing characteristics and mechanical properties of glass fabric reinforcements coated with graphene nanoparticles were investigated. Graphene was coated onto either one or both sides of a plain weave glass fabric. The coated fabrics were investigated to measure key process characterization parameters used for vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process which are, reinforcement compaction response, in-plane, and transverse permeability. It was found that graphene coated glass reinforcements were stiffer than the pure glass reinforcements which will have direct influence on final fiber volume fraction obtained during VARTM processing. The permeability measurement results show that the graphene coated reinforcements filled relatively slower compared with the pure glass samples. Composite samples were then tested for flexural and low velocity impact. The initial results show that the flexural modulus did not change as the wt % of graphene increases. However, a decrease in flexural strength with increasing wt % of graphene was observed. It was also observed that the coating of graphene on glass reinforcements caused delamination between plies and resisted localized damage under low velocity impact as compared to pure glass samples.