Lightweight Graphene Composite Materials

This chapter reports on the various production, fabrication, and modeling details undertaken for the creation of lightweight graphene-based polymer composite materials. Among all the composites, polymers matrix-based composites are the lightest and hold various unique properties as advantages over its counterparts. Here, the synthesis and properties of graphene are discussed, followed by the large-scale manufacturing and mechanical properties of the lightweight graphene-based polymer matrix composite structures. Finally, the authors have discussed the modeling and simulations of lightweight graphene polymer composite structures. This chapter reports on the various production, fabrication, and modeling details undertaken for the creation of lightweight graphene-based polymer composite materials. Graphene-based polymer composites have widely been recognized as promising materials with a large number of applications in diverse fields such as automobiles, electronic industries, defense and aerospace. Moving on to the polymer resins section, thermosetting polymer resins have also been applied in several diverse applications such as coatings, adhesives, automotive components, and aerospace structures; but numerous applications have been limited because of low stiffness, strength, toughness, thermal performance, and electrical conductivity of these polymer resins. Graphene is an allotrope of carbon, with a hexagonal structure and sp hybridized carbon atoms. It has exceptional mechanical and thermal properties; thus, it is a promising candidate to be the ultimate nanofiller. Graphene nanoflakes that are produced using this technique lead to the formation of agglomeration, whereas the 2D graphene nanosheets have comparatively low chances of agglomerating in the polymer matrices.