Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Graphene Reinforced Natural Rubber Composites: A Molecular Dynamics Study
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MRS Advances © 2018 Materials Research Society DOI: 10.1557/adv.2018.178
Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Graphene Reinforced Natural Rubber Composites: A Molecular Dynamics Study Raj Chawla1 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144411, Punjab, India
ABSTRACT
Graphene reinforced natural rubber composites are developed to study the improvement in mechanical and tribological properties of natural rubber by the introduction of graphene as reinforcement. Constant strain minimization method has been applied to calculate Young's and shear modulus of developed structures. A three-layer model containing Fe (Iron) atoms at the top and bottom and polymer matrices in the middle has been constructed to calculate the tribological properties. A shear loading is applied to the top iron nanorod by sliding it to the surface of the polymer matrices for 600 ps with a velocity of 0.01 nm/ps. The results show the increase of 185% in Young’s modulus, 32% in shear modulus and 48% in hardness by reinforcing natural rubber with single-layer graphene oxide sheet, respectively. Also, reduction of 28% and 36% in the friction coefficient and abrasion rate obtained by the introduction of graphene oxide sheet in natural rubber matrix. Also, interaction energy between graphene and natural rubber, the angle, bond and kinetic energy of the polymer and composites has been calculated and discussed.
INTRODUCTION The one-atom-thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms which is known as graphene sheet (GS) considered as one of the most superior nano-filler material for polymer composites because of its high Young’s modulus, ease of availability and toughness [1-3]. The unique mechanical properties of graphene-reinforced polymer composites have been experimentally observed in numerous studies [4-6]. Several studies have been made to understand the behavior of graphene oxide based polymer composites. Yan et al. [6] studies on natural rubber reinforced reduced graphene oxide composites shows the importance of morphology of fillers has a crucial role in determining the composite properties. Wu et al. [7] used different sized graphene oxide sheets as fillers and produced natural rubber composites. It was found that the addition of even small size sheet shows a significant improvement in modulus which also strongly depends on the size of the graphene sheets. She et al. [8] studied the effect of epoxy and hydroxyl functional groups on the interfacial and mechanical properties of GO reinforced NR composites. The obtained results show the increase of 87% in tensile strength with the addition of 0.7 wt.% GO. The increment is due to the formation of hydrogen bonding interface between filler and matrix material. An environment-friendly mechanical mixing method used by
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