Improved electrical and thermal properties of TETA functionalized NGPs/Epoxy nanocomposites

Abstract

The present work reports the synthesis of nanocomposites (NCs) prepared by amine functionalization of nanographite platlets (NGPs) coupled with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin. NGPs were treated with 3:1 mixture of concentrated H2SO4/HNO3, and then grafted with triethylene-tetramine (TETA) that contributes uniform dispersion of NGPs within the epoxy matrix. In particular, the amine functionalization of NGPs with triethylene-tetramine (TETA) purposed to attain better dispersion and strong interfacial interaction between the filler and the matrix. The TETA functionalized NGPs/epoxy nanocomposites (DGEBA/TETA-NGPs) were produced by molding curing method. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by FTIR and SEM techniques. The electrical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites at various TETA-NGP loadings were investigated and found to attain an increase in the conductivity and thermal stability compared with that of neat epoxy resin.