The role of cavitation in the toughening of elastomer nanocomposites reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets

The toughening of different types of elastomers through the incorporation of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) has been investigated. Both the tear strength and tearing energy are increased significantly through a combination of mechanisms such as debonding, pull-out and cavitation. The processes that o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inComposites. Part A, Applied science and manufacturing Vol. 184; p. 108269
Main Authors O'Brien, Conor T., Li, Zheling, Liu, Mufeng, Robert Innes, J., Li, Suhao, Papageorgiou, Dimitrios G., Storm, Malte, Burnett, Timothy L., Young, Robert J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2024
Subjects
Failure
Graphene
Nanocomposites
X-ray CT analysis
X-ray CT analysis
Nanocomposites
Graphene
Failure
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Summary:The toughening of different types of elastomers through the incorporation of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) has been investigated. Both the tear strength and tearing energy are increased significantly through a combination of mechanisms such as debonding, pull-out and cavitation. The processes that occur ahead of a tear/crack tip in natural rubber filled with GNPs have been monitored in situ using synchrotron-based nanoscale X-ray computed tomography. The GNP particles are found to debond and form voids that grow under stress leading to considerable energy absorption. The mechanisms of cavitation and void growth are analysed theoretically and it is shown that voids need to be larger than ∼1 μm in size to grow in the triaxial tensile stress field ahead of the tear/crack tip. The high level of cavitation and void growth found for the elastomers filled with micron-sized GNP particles is suggested to be the reason why these nanocomposites have a high tear resistance.
ISSN:1359-835X
1878-5840
DOI:10.1016/j.compositesa.2024.108269