Enhanced mechanical and thermal properties of bismaleimide composites with covalent functionalized graphene oxide

This paper reports a feasible method for covalent functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) by using maleic anhydride (MAH), and the fabrication of composites with bismaleimide (BMI) resin. The synthesized MAH functionalized GO (MAH-GO) nanosheets were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, the chemical interactions between MAH-GO and BMI resin were verified, which facilitated the dispersion and exfoliation of MAH-GO in the resin matrix. As a consequence, the MAH-GO/BMI composites showed significantly improved impact strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus and bending strength as compared to neat BMI resin and GO/BMI composites. The SEM photographs showed that the MAH-GO/BMI composites exhibited typical ductile fracture with dimples. The study also indicated that the thermal stability of BMI resin was improved by the addition of MAH-GO.