Micromechanics prediction of the effective elastic moduli of graphene sheet-reinforced polymer nanocomposites

We investigate the stiffening effect of graphene sheets dispersed in polymer nanocomposites using the Mori–Tanaka micromechanics method. The effective elastic moduli of graphene sheet-reinforced composites are first predicted by assuming that all the graphene sheets are either aligned or randomly oriented in the polymer matrix while maintaining their platelet-like shape. It is shown that a very low content of graphene sheets can considerably...