Study of crystallization behavior of poly(phenylene sulfide)

Abstract

Poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) is an engineering thermoplastic polymer that presents high temperature resistance (glass transition temperature around 85 ºC and melting point at 285 ºC). These properties combined with its mechanical properties and its high chemical resistance allows its use in technological applications such as molding resins and as matrix for structural thermoplastic composites. During the manufacture of thermoplastic composites, the polymer is exposed to repeated melting, quenching and crystallization processes. The properties of semicrystalline polymers, such as PPS, depend on its crystallization behavior. This work deals with the PPS crystallization kinetics under different thermal cycles. This study was performed under isothermal conditions in a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), coupled to Perkin Elmer crystallization software referred to as Pyris Kinetics - Crystallization. The results were correlated with microscopic analyses carried out in a polarized light microscope, equipped with a controlled heating and cooling accessory. In this case, the experimental conditions were the same adopted for the DSC analyses. From the results, parameters could be established to be used in the composite manufacture.