Investigation of rheological properties of graphene oxide and its nanocomposite with polyvinyl alcohol

Abstract

This paper focuses on the rheological properties of graphene oxide (GO) and its nanocomposite with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The purpose of this paper is to compare the mechanical properties of these materials. GO is a nanomaterial that has been widely studied in engineering. The comparison of its rheological properties with those of its nanocomposite with PVA has been required. Rheology is an appropriate method for the comparative investigation of the mechancial behavior of these materials. The challenge has been to compare the rheological parameters of these materials regarding their mechanical properties. This investigation shows that GO and GO-PVA do not exhibit the same viscosity change at low shear rates. While GO shows a significant decrease of viscosity, GO-PVA shows a steady state behavior at these shear rates. However, both GO and GO-PVA show a constant viscosity at high shear rates. These materials show the same behavior concerning the change of their viscosity versus shear strain or time. The changes of torque versus shear strain and time for GO and GO-PVA are representes as increasing curves and lines, respectively. The increase of shear stress versus shear rate or shear strain coincide for both materials. However, as expected, the first change represents an increasing line and the second one a curve. This original investigation shows the difference between the mechanical behaviour of GO and GO-PVA concerning the change of their viscosity at low shear rates and their similarity at high shear rates. Moreover, this study gives new results concernig the change of other parameters as described above. The unique physicochemical properties of GO have made it an important candidate in engineering and materials science. This investigation can lead to a better understanding of the rheological properties of GO and GO-PVA for the improvement of these applications.