Effect of Ti–SiO2 nanoparticles on non-isothermal crystallization of polyphenylene sulfide fibers

Abstract

Systematic studies of non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and PPS/Ti–SiO2 (1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mass%) fibers raw materials were performed by DSC combining with SEM and polarized optical microscopy (POM). There are significant dependence of non-isothermal crystallization behavior and kinetics of PPS/Ti–SiO2 nanocomposites on the Ti–SiO2 content and cooling rate. Nano Ti–SiO2 acted as nucleating agents. Not only initial crystallization temperature was increased but also the rates of crystallization accelerated by analyzing relative degree of crystallinity, crystallization rate coefficient and crystallization rate parameter. Combining with POM images, non-isothermal crystallization kinetics was studied by Jeziorny, Ozawa and Mo’s equation. Spherulitic morphology of PPS has not been changed by nano Ti–SiO2, but the numbers of initial crystal nucleus increased and spherulitic size became smaller. Crystallization activation energy of PPS and PPS/Ti–SiO2 nanocomposites was estimated using isoconversional analysis of calorimetric data and proved that Ti–SiO2 increased effective energy barrier of crystallization due to its strong surface adsorption and the crystallization of PPS/Ti–SiO2 was more sensitive to temperature.