High performance graphene-based pseudo-ductile composites

High-performance fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites offer excellent specific strength and stiffness when compared to high-density metallic materials. However, their inherent brittleness leads to sudden and catastrophic failure without sufficient pre-warning, rendering them unsuitable for many applications. To address this limitation, we present a novel approach using graphene-based glass-carbon FRP hybrid composites that exhibit excellent pseudo-ductile properties. Our technique involves coating glass and carbon fibre balanced plain woven fabrics with graphene-based materials using a facile and scalable pad-dry-cure coating technique, followed by reinforcement with an epoxy matrix via vacuum-assisted resin infusion (VARI). Our tensile and flexural tests demonstrate the exceptional pseudo-ductile behaviour of these hybrid composites, with no visible changes in damage initiation after the initial failure of carbon fibre. By enabling the manufacture of high-performance pseudo-ductile composites at scale using a low-cost manufacturing method, our graphene-based glass-carbon hybrid FRP composites have significant potential for next-generation applications.