The aim of the present research work is to enhance the thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of Kevlar/Cocos nucifera sheath (CS)/epoxy composites with graphene nano platelets (GNP). Laminates were fabricated through the hand lay-up method followed by hot pressing. GNP at different wt.% (0.25, 0.5, and 0.75) were incorporated with epoxy resin through ultra-sonication. Kevlar/CS composites with different weight ratios (100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75, 0/100) were fabricated while maintaining a fiber/matrix weight ratio at 45/55. Thermal degradation and viscoelastic properties were evaluated using thermogravimetric analysys (TGA), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analysis, and a dynamic mechanical analyser (DMA). The obtained results revealed that Kevlar/CS (25/75) hybrid composites at 0.75 wt.% of GNP exhibited similar thermal stability compared to Kevlar/epoxy (100/0) composites at 0 wt.% of GNP. It has been corroborated with DSC observation that GNP act as a thermal barrier. However, DMA results showed that the Kevlar/CS (50/50) hybrid composites at 0.75 wt.% of GNP exhibited almost equal viscoelastic properties compared to Kevlar/epoxy (100/0) composites at 0 wt.% GNP due to effective crosslinking, which improves the stress transfer rate. Hence, this research proved that Kevlar can be efficiently (50%) replaced with CS at an optimal GNP loading for structural applications.
This research investigated the effect of adding different wt.% (0, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75) of GNP (graphene nanoplatelets) to improve the mechanical and moisture resistant properties of Kevlar (K)/cocos nucifera sheath (CS)/epoxy hybrid composites. The laminates were fabricated with different K/CS weight ratios such as 100/0 (S1), 75/25 (S2), 50/50 (S3), 25/75 (S4), and 0/100 (S5). The results revealed that the addition of GNP improved the tensile, flexural, and impact properties of laminated composites. However, the optimal wt.% of GNP varies with different laminates. A moisture diffusion analysis showed that the laminates with a 0.25 wt.% of GNP content efficiently hindered water uptake by closing all the unoccupied pores inside the laminate. Morphological investigations (SEM and FE-SEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope)) proved that the addition of GNP improved the interfacial adhesion and dispersion. Structural (XRD and FTIR) analyses reveals that at 0.25 wt.% of GNP, all the hybrid composites showed a better crystallinity index and the functional groups presents in the GNP can form strong interactions with the fibers and matrix. A statistical analysis was performed using One-way ANOVA, and it corroborates that the mechanical properties of different laminates showed a statistically significant difference. Hence, these GNP-modified epoxy hybrid composites can be efficiently utilized in load-bearing structures.