Elasto-plastic behavior of graphene reinforced nanocomposites with hard/soft interface effects

Abstract

Abstract Interface effects play an important role in the overall mechanical properties of graphene reinforced nanocomposites. This work concerns an investigation of the influence of hard/soft interface effects on the macroscopic elasto-plastic behavior of graphene reinforced nanocomposites. The theoretical framework is developed based on the interphase model, the second-order stress moment and the field fluctuation method. To demonstrate the validity of the present approach, comparative analyses against experimental data are presented, followed by detailed parametric analyses to expose the effects of the major micromechanical variables on the macroscopic elasto-plastic behavior of graphene-nanocomposites. The micromechanical variables include volume fraction, thickness and stiffness of hard/soft interphase, as well as geometrical size factor and aspect ratio of graphene nanosheets.