Chen et al. (2008) fabricated functionalized 1.5 wt%
multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) nanocomposites and
reported the significant improvement of impact strength
from 5.5 kJ/m
2(neat epoxy) to 10.6 kJ/m
2
. Previous study
by Ma et al. (2010) showed that, amino-functionalization
led to improve hydrophilicity, wettability and also
enhanced interfacial interactions between CNTwith epoxy.
The result obtained by Montarezi et al. (2010) showed
that dispersion of acid treated MWCNTin epoxy matrix
was more uniform compare with untreated MWCNT. The
addition of 0.9 wt% graphene into polystyrene resulting
in 57.2 and 69.5% increase in Young’s modulus and
tensile strength, respectively, as reported by Fang et al.
(2009). Yang et al. (2010) studied the uniform dispersion
of 1 wt% GOin chitosan matrix successfully increased
tensile strength and Young’s modulus by 122 and 64%,
respectively. Ganguli et al. (2008) observed reinforcing
effect of 4% graphite in epoxy resin, increasing T
g
value
from 155 to 175ºC (Ganguli et al. 2008).
In this study, the effects on the addition of GOon the
mechanical (flexural and impact properties) and thermal
properties of epoxy nanocomposites were characterized.
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical
thermal analysis (DMTA) were performed to examine the
thermal properties of the epoxy samples. The fractured
surface of impact test was examined by a Field emission
scanning electron microscope (FESEM).