Modeling and mechanical analysis of multiscale fiber-reinforced graphene composites: Nonlinear bending, thermal post-buckling and large amplitude vibration

In this paper, a mathematical model was developed to predict the effective material properties of graphene nanoplatelets/fiber/polymer multiscale composites (GFPMC). The large deflection, post-buckling and free nonlinear vibration of graphene nanoplatelets-reinforced multiscale composite beams were studied through a theoretical study. The governing equations of laminated nanocomposite beams were derived from the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory with von Kármán geometric nonlinearity. Halpin-Tsai equations and fiber micromechanics were used in hierarchy to predict the bulk material properties of the multiscale composite. Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were assumed to be uniformly distributed and randomly oriented through the epoxy resin matrix. A semi-analytical approach was used to calculate the large static deflection and critical buckling temperature of multiscale multifunctional nanocomposite beams. A perturbation scheme was also employed to determine the nonlinear dynamic response and the nonlinear natural frequencies of the beams with clamped-clamped, and hinged-hinged boundary conditions. The effects of weight percentage of graphene nanoplatelets, volume fraction of fibers, and boundary conditions on the static deflection, thermal buckling and post-buckling and linear and nonlinear natural frequencies of the GFPMC beams were investigated in detail. The numerical results showed that the central deflection and natural frequency were significantly improved by a small percentage of GNPs. However, addition of GNPs led to a lower critical buckling temperature.