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

Systematic studies of non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and PPS/Ti–SiO 2 (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–SiO 2 nanocomposites on the Ti–SiO 2 content and cooling rate. Nano Ti–SiO 2 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–SiO 2 , but the numbers of initial crystal nucleus increased and spherulitic size became smaller. Crystallization activation energy of PPS and PPS/Ti–SiO 2 nanocomposites was estimated using isoconversional analysis of calorimetric data and proved that Ti–SiO 2 increased effective energy barrier of crystallization due to its strong surface adsorption and the crystallization of PPS/Ti–SiO 2 was more sensitive to temperature.