Synthesis, mechanical properties and thermal stability of the functional reduced graphene oxide/bisphenol A cyanate ester nanocomposites

In this paper, a novel functional reduced graphene oxide (F-RGO) material was synthesized via the reduced graphene oxide graft with a silane coupling agent. Then, the functional reduced graphene oxide/bisphenol A cyanate ester (F-RGO/CE) nanocomposites were prepared with a solution intercalation method. The results showed that the F-RGO played a role of catalyst at the curing process of the F-RGO/CE nanocomposites. The optimal F-RGO nanosheets (3 wt%) improved the mechanical properties and the maximum values of the mechanical properties were impact strength 15.334 kJ/m2, flexural strength 104.68 MPa, tensile strength 9.3 MPa, modulus 2041.6 MPa and the elongation break values 5.5 mm for the F-RGO/CE nanocomposites, respectively. The Tg, Tc, crystallinity and densities of the F-RGO/CE nanocomposites were slightly decreased compared with the pure CE resin, respectively. And the addition of F-RGO slightly increased the thermal properties of the pure CE resin.