Synergistic Reinforcement of Phenol-Formaldehyde Resin Composites by Poly(Hexanedithiol)/Graphene Oxide

Abstract

In this paper, the preparation of graphene oxide was achieved by Hummers method and the surface modification was achieved by poly(hexaneditiol), which was a synthetic thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer. The c-PHDT/GO/PF composites were prepared by blending, rolling and compression molding techniques. Then, the as-prepared samples were characterized by FTIR, Raman, XRD, TGA and POM to obtain information on their structures and properties. After that, the effects of c-PHDT/GO content on the mechanical properties, friction performance and dynamic mechanical performance of c-PHDT/GO/PF composites were studied by Mechanical and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) methods. Also, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used for the characterization of wear and fracture surface morphology. The results revealed that the reinforcing effect of c-PHDT/GO was significant as a considerable enhancement on the mechanical performance of c-PHDT/GO/PF composite as compared to pure phenol-formaldehyde composites was observed: the impact strength, bending modulus and bending strength increased from 1.63 kJ/m2, 8.61 GPa and 41.55 MPa to 2.31 kJ/m2, 10.16 GPa and 54.40 MPa respectively at the c-PHDT/GO content = 0.75%. Moreover, the initial storage modulus increased by 28.4%, while the wear mass loss decreased by 17.8%. More importantly, the reinforcement by c-PHDT/GO was further enhanced as compared to GO/PF and p-PHDT/GO/PF composites, the impact strength of c-PHDT/GO/PF composite increased by 27.6% and 11.1%, the bending strength increased by 11.8% and 7.6%, the initial storage modulus increased by 16.2% and 4.2% and the mass loss due to wear decreased by 12.7% and 8.8%, respectively. Based on these results, we can conclude that the surface modification of GO by poly(hexanedithiol), which includes synergistic effect by c-PHDT and GO, improves the interfacial adhesion between GO and the resin matrix, thus reinforcing the composites.