Multilayered graphitic materials are not suitable as load-bearers due to their inherent weak interlayer bonding (for example, graphite is a solid lubricant in certain applications). This situation is largely improved when two-dimensional (2-D) materials such as a monolayer (SLG) graphene are employed. The downside in these cases is the presence of thermally or mechanically induced wrinkles which are ubiquitous in 2-D materials. Here we set out to examine the effect of extensive large wavelength/ amplitude wrinkling on the stress transfer capabilities of exfoliated simply-supported graphene flakes. Contrary to common belief we present clear evidence that this type of "corrugation" enhances the load bearing capacity of few-layer graphene as compared to 'flat' specimens. This effect is the result of the significant increase of the graphene/polymer interfacial shear stress per increment of applied strain due to wrinkling and paves the way for designing affordable graphene composites with highly improved stress-transfer efficiency.
@article{arxiv.1708.02988,
title = {Wrinkled few-layer graphene as highly efficient load bearer},
author = {Charalampos Androulidakis and Emmanuel N. Koukaras and Jaroslava Rahova and Krishna Sampathkumar and John Parthenios and Konstantinos Papagelis and Otakar Frank and Costas Galiotis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.02988},
year = {2017}
}