[01] Xiaobing Li, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, USA. [02] Alharith Manasrah, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, USA. [03] Ahmed Al-Ostaz, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, USA. [04] Hunain Alkhateb, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, USA. [05] Dalton Lincoln, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, USA. [06] Grace Rushing, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, USA. [07] Alexander H.-D. Cheng, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, USA.

Polyetherimide (PEI)-graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) (PEIGNP) papers, with extremely high GNP loadings (up to nearly 100 wt%), were produced by filtration and hot-press. The impact of the GNP content on the impedance and mechanical properties, such as damping behavior, was investigated. Although the PEIGNP papers showed some decreases in tensile strength and strain at break, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) has shown that, compared with either the pristine GNP paper or the neat PEI film, the storage modulus of the PEIGNP papers increased 700% to 2,000% and the capacity to dissipate damping energy in terms of loss modulus was substantially improved by up to 3,000%. The tan δ value gained more than 500%, indicating that a higher fraction of applied energy was converted to heat. In addition, the PEI with relatively smaller molecular weight and the larger GNPs exhibited better damping effects. The results suggest that GNP-reinforced polymer-based nanocomposites could be used in applications that require energy-absorption upon dynamic loading. In addition, all PEIGNP papers in this study exhibited substantially low impedance because of high GNP loadings.

Graphene, Mechanical Property, Conductivity, Damping, Polyetherimide

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