Thermal stability and crystallisation behaviour study for nanocomposite of polyphenylene sulphide with WS2, MoS2 nanofiller and PEGM as impact modifier

Abstract

ABSTRACT Thermoplastic materials’ properties like mouldability, thermal stability, impact strength and thermal conductivity have played vital role in the study of nanocomposites in various fields of high-performance applications. Currently, Polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) based nanocomposites have attracted special attention in various automotive applications including automotive parts, coolant and fuel injection systems. The present study is aimed at improving the thermal stability of PPS polymer using lower weight% addition of dichalcogenides nanofillers like Tungsten Disulfide (WS2) and Molybdenum Disulphide (MoS2), prepared through melt compounding process using microcompunder and injection moulding steps. Addition of impact modifier poly-ethylene glycidyl methacrylate (PEGM) was explored while preparing the nanocomposites to enhance the mouldability. The weight loss and crystalline behaviour studies were performed using Thermo-Gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Digital Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) techniques. From the characterisation data, it was observed that the addition of specific nanofillers like WS2 has significant effect on the crystallization temperature(Tc), percentage of crystallinity(Xc) and degree of crystallinity(DOC). The PPS nanocomposite sample with 0.5 wt.% WS2 , yielded results viz. Tc as 232 °C, 30% of Xc and 66% DOC. The key outcome of this work includes greater thermal stability of nanocomposites by using lower weight percentage additions of nano-scale WS2 and MoS2.