Mechanical Characterization of GPL/Polymer Nanocomposite Structure using Finite Element Analysis and SCILAB

Abstract

Recent advances show that the Graphene platelets have dominated carbon nanotubes in the field of structural applications. This study is based on finding the mechanical properties and stress analysis of Graphene platelets. Here, the change in mechanical properties of epoxy nanocomposite with Graphene platelets at nano-fillers volume fraction of 0-0.112 was found. The mechanical properties measured were elastic modulus, shear modulus and bulk modulus by using SCILAB. The result shows that elastic modulus was increased ~40 %, shear modulus and bulk modulus of the composite was increased ~34 %. The properties so obtained were analyzed by using ANSYS 15.0. A cylindrical shell panel was designed for the purpose of this analysis. Mechanical properties at different volume fractions were studied for two different loading conditions. The results obtained from this analysis indicate that the stress value remains constant for both loading conditions and the deformation value decreases very rapidly.