Enhanced mechanical and damping properties of epoxy using aggregated nanoparticles organic-inorganic hybrid as a filler

Graphene, with high strength and ultra-high specific surface area, is an excellent filler to improve the mechanical properties of epoxy resin. However, due to the strong interface interaction between graphene and epoxy resin, it always negatively affects the damping performance of the matrix. Besides, the dispersibility of graphene in the epoxy matrix is also a problem that needs to be solved. To enhance the dispersibility of graphene and adjust the interface strength between graphene and epoxy matrix, one kind of organic-inorganic hybrid, which contains polyether amine as shell and aggregated nanoparticles of reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) and ZnO nanocrystalline as core, was synthesized. The morphology, chemical structure, physical characteristics and dispersity of the hybrid were investigated. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposites with different weight fractions of the hybrid were studied. The free vibration tests were conducted on these nanocomposites to obtain the natural frequency and damping ratio, and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory was employed to calculate the storage modulus and loss modulus of the nanocomposites. The dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMA) was employed to study the damping properties of neat epoxy and nanocomposite. The results showed that the hybrid filler can improve the mechanical and damping properties simultaneously.