In the present study, exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (EGN) were chemically modified with carboxyl-terminated poly(butadiene-co-acrylonitrile) (CTBN) liquid rubber via carboxylation, acylation, and subsequently esterification. Multiple characterizations by means of attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy demonstrated the chemical modification. For comparison, neat vinyl ester resin (VE), EGN/VE and CTBN-EGN/VE composites were prepared by using a free-standing Teflon mold to avoid pressure during curing. The amounts of EGN and CTBN-grafted EGN containing in EGN/VE and CTBN-EGN/VE composites were 1, 3, and 5 wt%, respectively. The impact strength of EGN/VE and CTBN-EGN/VE composites was strongly dependent upon the CTBN-grafted EGN concentration incorporated into neat VE. It was remarkably enhanced up to 220–240% even with low contents (5 wt%) of CTBN-grafted EGN in comparison to neat VE and unmodified EGN/VE. The result revealed that a small amount of EGN chemically modified with liquid rubber CTBN played an important role in increasing the impact toughness of thermosetting resin.

在本研究中，剥落的石墨纳米片（EGN）用端羧基聚（丁二烯-共-丙烯腈）（CTBN）液体橡胶通过化学改性羧化、酰化和随后的酯化。通过衰减全反射-傅立叶变换红外光谱、X 射线光电子能谱、拉曼光谱、X 射线衍射光谱、热重分析和扫描电子显微镜的多重表征证明了化学改性。为了进行比较，纯乙烯基酯树脂 (VE)、EGN/VE 和 CTBN-EGN/VE 复合材料是通过使用独立的聚四氟乙烯模具制备的，以避免固化过程中的压力。EGN/VE和CTBN-EGN/VE复合材料中EGN和CTBN接枝EGN的含量分别为1、3和5wt%。EGN/VE 和 CTBN-EGN/VE 复合材料的冲击强度很大程度上取决于掺入纯 VE 中的 CTBN 接枝 EGN 浓度。与纯 VE 和未改性的 EGN/VE 相比，即使 CTBN 接枝的 EGN 含量低（5 wt%），它也显着提高了 220-240%。结果表明，液态橡胶CTBN化学改性的少量EGN对提高热固性树脂的冲击韧性起到了重要作用。