This paper reports improvement in the fracture properties of epoxy nanocomposites using plasma functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNP) at low filler content. Various mechanical tests were performed on a series of f-GNP/epoxy at low nanofiller loading to assess the effect of the nanofiller on mechanical properties. Most importantly, a significant enhancement in fracture toughness is achieved without compromising the tensile and thermal properties of the nanocomposites. The fracture toughness of neat epoxy resin was increased by over 50% with the incorporation of 0.25 wt% f-GNP loading, obtaining a value of 245 J m⁻², while the neat epoxy indicated a value of 162 J m⁻². The glass transition temperature (T_g) and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) both showed a slight increase of 3% and 2%, respectively, both at 1 wt% f-GNP loading. These enhancements are competitive with current literature results on nanocomposites, but at significantly lower filler content. We therefore demonstrate that f-GNPs are capable of providing effective toughening of epoxy resins, while maintaining other tensile and thermal properties.

本文报道了在低填料含量下使用等离子功能化石墨烯纳米片（f-GNP）可以改善环氧纳米复合材料的断裂性能。在低纳米填料负载下对一系列f-GNP /环氧树脂进行了各种机械测试，以评估纳米填料对机械性能的影响。最重要的是，在不损害纳米复合材料的拉伸和热性能的情况下，实现了断裂韧性的显着提高。通过掺入0.25 wt％的f-GNP负载，纯环氧树脂的断裂韧性提高了50％以上，得到的值为245 J m ^-2，而纯环氧树脂的值为162 J m ^-2。玻璃化温度（T _g）和热膨胀系数（CTE）都分别在f-GNP负载量为1 wt％时分别略微增加了3％和2％。这些增强与当前有关纳米复合材料的文献结果具有竞争力，但填料含量明显降低。因此，我们证明了f-GNP能够提供有效的环氧树脂增韧，同时保持其他拉伸和热性能。