International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

In this article, graphene nanoplatelets (GN) were used as nanofiller and twin-screw extrusion process was applied to synthesis of Polyamide 6 / Graphene Nanoplatelets (PA6/GN) nanocomposites. Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffractions (XRD), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the resultant structure. According to the results of FTIR and XRD measurement, α phase dominated in neat PA6, while the γ phase also could be observed at PA6/GN nanocomposites. Compared with the neat PA6, the PA6/GN nanocomposites exhibited better improvement in thermal analysis results due to the new and dominant crystal form.

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized from graphite by using the Hummer method. GO was reduced using hydrazine hydrate to achieve reduced graphene oxide (RGO). GO and RGO powders synthesized by these methods can be used as fillers in the production of polymer matrix composite. These synthesized powders was examined in detail using the Zeta Potential (ZP) measurements, Ultraviolet Visible Spectrophotometer (UV-VIS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analyzer and Thermogravimetric-Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTA). All analysis results confirmed the GO and RGO considered as fillers in the production of polymer matrix composite can be prepared successfully.

In this study, the thermal and structural changes were observed in polyvinylchloride / graphene oxide (PVC/GO) composites in different amounts of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 wt.%. To this aim, GO was prepared from natural graphite by Hummers method. XRD results of GO indicated that the interlayer distance increased from 0.33 nm to 0.88 nm. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis results showed that oxygen content increased from 22.59 % to 47.95 % after the oxidation process. These features suggested that the GO sample, mainly oxygen-containing functional groups, was oxidized. PVC/GO composites were prepared by colloidal blending. XRD results of all composites indicated the GO layers well-dispersed in polymer matrix. SEM analysis revealed that the composites with 0.1 and 0.5 wt. % GO filler exhibited a uniform composite with highly porous and micro porous morphology respectively. TGA and DSC analysis showed that the use of minimum amount of GO in PVC matrix did not provide an important improvement on the thermal stability of the examined composites.