Epoxy shape-memory polymer reinforced by thermally reduced graphite oxide: Influence of processing techniques

In this article, epoxy shape-memory polymer (ESMP) reinforced with 1 wt % thermally reduced graphite oxide (TrGO) was fabricated by solution blending and three-roll mill (TRM) mixing, respectively. Both blending techniques allowed a uniform TrGO dispersion in ESMP matrix, and the TRM mixing lead to an exfoliation of the TrGO worms. Compared with pristine ESMP, the TrGO/ESMP composites showed 36.4-41.1% increase in Young's modulus and 38.1-44.1% improvement in tensile strength. The TrGO/ESMP composite fabricated by TRM mixing had a T_5% (the temperature where the material lost 5% of its initial weight) 16.4°C higher than pure ESMP. Compared with pure ESMP, a significant improvement of recovery force by 84.4% and 311.1% was obtained by TrGO/ESMP composite fabricated by solution blending and TRM mixing, respectively.