Interaction modelling of the thermomechanical behaviour of spatially-oriented graphene platelets (GPLs) reinforced polymer matrix

Abstract Graphene has a diversity of properties, making it an attractive candidate as a reinforcement material. To fully exploit these properties; robust mathematical models should be designed and developed. However, considering interactions between embedded GPLs is a challenging task. These interactions have an important contribution to the behaviour of nanocomposite material, and most of the available numerical and analytical literature ignore them. The current work discloses an integrated and computationally inexpensive approach to help discover new realistic graphene platelets (GPLs) nanocomposite model using analytical Multi-site (MS) scheme. The superiority of MS modelling is achieved by the consideration of the effect of the interaction between GPLs inclusions and their neighbourhood. Analytical One-site (OS) scheme is also utilised to derive the macroscopic response of the composite with random microstructures. The modelling techniques employed to derive the overall response of the composite are based on a thermomechanical kinematics integral equation. In addition to the analytical investigation, numerical characterisation using finite element modelling (FEM) is also performed on a representative volume element (RVE) to confront the analytical micromechanics formulation. GPLs are selected for modelling the graphene for which different orientation are considered within a Polyamide-Nylon 6 (GPL/PA6) matrix. Our study provides a promising framework approach for a coherent design of this category of materials.