In this work, nanocomposites of epoxy resin and chemically reduced graphene oxide (RGO)
were prepared by thermal curing process. X-ray diffractions confirmed the microstructural
properties of RGO. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to evaluate the curing behaviors
of RGO/epoxy nanocomposites with different RGO loading amounts. We investigated
the effect of RGO loading amounts on the mechanical properties of the epoxy nanocomposites.
It was found that the presence of RGO improved both flexural strength and modulus of
the epoxy nanocomposites till the RGO loading reached 0.4 wt%, and then decreased. The
optimum loading achieved about 24.5 and 25.7% improvements, respectively, compared
to the neat-epoxy composites. The observed mechanical reinforcement might be an enhancement
of mechanical interlocking between the epoxy matrix and RGO due to the unique
planar structures.