Damping Behavior and Mechanical Property of Graphene Nanoplatelet Paper

Graphene nanoplatelet (GNP)-polyetherimide (PEI) papers, in which GNP loadings were controlled up to nearly 100 wt%, were prepared by filtration and hot-press. The impact of GNP content on electrical conductivity, damping behavior and mechanical properties was investigated. While tensile tests showed that there were generally some decreases in tensile strength and strain at break, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) has shown that compared with either the pristine GNP paper or the neat PEI film, the storage modulus increased 7 to 20 times and the capacity to dissipate damping energy in terms of loss modulus was substantially improved by up to 30 times. The tan δ value gained more than 5 times, indicating that a higher fraction of loaded energy was converted to heat. Comparative studies showed that the PEI with relatively smaller molecular weight and large GNPs exhibited better damping effects. These results may suggest a new potential application of GNP or graphene reinforced polymer-based nanocomposite specifically applicable in energy- absorption upon dynamic loading. Besides, all GNP-PEI papers in this study exhibited very good electrical conductivity.