The structural, wettability, thermal, and electromagnetic irradiation shielding characteristics of acrylic polymer/graphene and acrylic polymer/graphene/carbon fiber hybrid polymers

Abstract

The polymer coating protects materials from failure due to environmental changes and improves their stability and performance towards electromagnetic radiation shielding. In the current investigation, acrylic polymer (AP) was coated with varied ratios of graphene (GR) nanoparticles or co-coated with GR and 5 wt% carbon fiber (CF) via the casting method. The FTIR and SEM results demonstrated excellent coating and interaction between AP, GR, and CF. The water contact angle increased from 45.5° for pure AP to 55.8° and 68.4° for AP/2wt%GR and AP/GR/5wt%CF, respectively. The thermal conductivity was increased from 0.226 Wm⁻¹ K⁻¹ for AP to 0.268 Wm⁻¹ K⁻¹ and 0.344 Wm⁻¹ K⁻¹ for AP/2wt%GR and AP/GR/5wt%CF, respectively. The AP/GR composites and AP/GR/CF hybrid composites outperformed AP in terms of electromagnetic irradiation shielding efficiency, which improved with frequency. Coating with GR and GR/CF increased the relative permittivity, electrical conductivity, F-factor, and other dielectric constants, but decreased as the frequency of the applied AC voltage increased. The synthesized AP/GR/CF hybrid composites may be suitable for various technologies i.e. telephone microwave, TV image transmission, and weather radar.