Thermo-mechanical and dielectric properties of graphene reinforced caprolactam cardanol based benzoxazine–epoxy nanocomposites

Abstract

In the present work a new type of benzoxazine was synthesized using caproamine with cardanol and the molecular structure was characterized by FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. The graphene reinforced epoxy–polybenzoxazine nanocomposites were prepared by incorporating varying weight percentages of graphene and benzoxazine to an epoxy resin. Data obtained from the mechanical study infer the significant improvement in the values of tensile strength, impact strength and flexural strength of the composites reinforced with different weight percentages of benzoxazine and graphene. The values of the dielectric constant of the composite samples are appreciably enhanced and are higher than that of the neat epoxy matrix. Data from SEM, TEM and XRD ascertain the existence of homogeneous distribution of graphene in the composites. Data obtained from thermal, mechanical, dielectric and surface free energy studies infer that 20 wt% Bz–g reinforced composites possess better properties than those of the neat epoxy matrix and other weight percentages of composites.