Improvement of Tensile and Flexural Properties of Fiber Pre-Stressing Composite by Using Nano Graphene

Abstract

Fiber pre-stress composites are used nowadays in many applications that need extra strength without adding more reinforcements. Nano graphene platelets are selected to be added to the composite as it has high tensile properties. This work studied the effect of adding Nano graphene platelets with different weight ratios of 0.5%,1%, and 2% to the resin during the curing process in the presence of fiber pre-stressing of 1MP and 2MPa. The results show improvement in most properties of composites like tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, flexure strength, and modulus of flexure with the ratio of (43-57%),(35-55%),(100-134%), (60-90%) respectively. A numerical model was built to simulate tensile and flexure tests using ANSYS software. The divergence between the experimental and numerical results did not exceed 5%. Adding Nano graphene with a weight ratio of more than 2% will have a negative effect on the properties as the Nano graphene will agglomerate and lose most of its high properties that match with most literature reviewed.