Kevlar oligomer functionalized graphene for polymer composites

Kevlar oligomer functionalized graphene (FGS) was prepared by simple grafting of amino-terminated Kevlar oligomer on graphene oxide (GO) followed by reducing with hydrazine hydrate. The incorporation of FGS shows pronounced effect on the host polymers. High-level reinforcement of both PMMA and PI is observed with low content of FGS (<= 0.2 wt %), in this lower loading range, the tensile modulus and strength of composites increase almost linearly as a function of the adding amount of FGS. But no further improvement is obtained as the content of FGS further increased (>0.2 wt %). The mechanism under the reinforcement effect against the FGS loadings is discussed based on the morphological characterizations of the composites. The thermal properties of the composites were also investigated. The glass transition temperature and thermal stability of PMMA were dramatically increased even with the addition of only a small amount of FGS. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.