An experimental investigation on the effect of nano-graphene oxide on the maximum peeling force of Al/GFRP laminates

The effect of adding different percentages of nano-graphene oxide (NGO) into the epoxy resin on the mechanical properties of NGO/epoxy and maximum peeling force of fiber-metal laminates (FMLs) with composite cores are investigated in this paper. Three different percentages of NGO including 0.1, 0.35 and 0.50 weight percentages (wt. %) are used to fabricate the tensile test samples of NGO/epoxy. Hand lay-up method is used to fabricate FML specimens with glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) core and aluminum faces. Tensile tests are examined and the Young’s modulus and ultimate stress of NGO/epoxy samples are determined. It is found that after adding of 0.1 wt. % of NGO into the epoxy resin, the ultimate tensile strength decreased by 13.4% from 25.3 to 21.9 MPa. Moreover, using peeling test, the separation force between aluminum faces of Al/GFRP laminates are obtained. Based on the results, when 0.1 wt. % of NGO is mixed with the epoxy, the maximum peeling force of FML increases by 16% and amounts to 4 N/mm. Based on the results, when NGO is used next to micro fibers in the construction of composite core, they have an effective role on the interlayer adhesion of fibrous composites.