Tensile, Compressive and Thermal Properties of Epoxy/Hollow Glass Beads/Graphene Ternary Foamed Composites

Hollow glass beads and graphene were used to improve the performances of the epoxy resin. The density, tensile, compressive properties and thermal behaviors of the as-prepared samples were discussed. Experiment results showed that hollow glass beads could effectively reduce the density of the epoxy resin matrix. When the hollow glass beads loading was 30 wt%, the density of the composites was 0.81 g.cm(-3). Moreover, graphene could enhance the mechanical performances of the foamed composites. When the graphene loading was 0.75 wt%, the tensile strength, Young's modulus and strain break of the epoxy/hollow glass beads/graphene ternary samples were 85.2 %, 53.4 % and 11.0 % more than the control binary sample, respectively. Moreover, the compressive strength and modulus were 10.8 % and 68.6 % more than the control binary sample, respectively. In addition, DSC and TG results showed that graphene could accelerate the curing and improve the thermal stability of the foamed composites.