Abstract
Important challenges are faced during the manufacturing of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP)/polymer composites, associated with material quality and how to eliminate or reduce fabrication-induced defects in the effort to improve performance. In the present work, infrared thermography (IRT) is used to measure void content and map void distribution, formed during fabrication of GNP/epoxy nanocomposites. Taking into consideration the size of each pixel (~100 μm), this method enables the non-destructive detection of flaws with a size of approximately 200 μm. Their effect on thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite is studied by a 3D multiscale finite element analysis. Generic and full-field comparisons demonstrate a good agreement between measurements and numerical predictions, validating assumptions and simplifications made in the proposed model.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1441-1453 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- graphene
- infrared thermography
- multiscale analysis
- nanocomposites
- representative volume element (RVE)
- thermal diffusivity
- voids