Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Nanoscale Toughness And Behavior Of Graphene/Epoxy Interfaces, Nima Rahbar, Hossein Salahshoor

Nima Rahbar

Atomistic simulations are performed to investigate the nano-scale interfacial fracture toughness between graphene and epoxy. Nano-mechanical properties of graphene and epoxy are initially studied using molecular dynamics simulations. A novel method is suggested to accurately model the behavior of the graphen/epoxy interface during the curing process of the epoxy as a function of temperature. The computed interfacial fracture energy is computed at about 0.203 J/m2, which is in good agreement with available experimental data. It is also shown that the adhesion between cured epoxy and graphene layer increases the pre-existing waviness of the 2-dimensional graphene sheet in a 3-dimensional space. …