Morphology control of nanofillers in poly (phenylene sulfide): A novel method to realize the exfoliation of nanoclay by SiO2 via melt shear flow

We for the first time report a novel method to achieve the morphology control of two kinds of dimensional different nanofillers, the platelike nanoclay and globelike SiO2, by using their “filler to filler” interaction in poly (phenylene sulfide) (PPS). The strong interaction between layered nanoclay and rigid SiO2 is obtained by their different response to shear flow in PPS melt processing. As a result, the exfoliation structure of nanoclay and well-dispersed nano-SiO2 are realized simultaneously. With this successful morphology control, the reinforcement effect of nanofillers in PPS is improved with very little addition. Moreover, with the restriction of exfoliated clay and nano-SiO2 particles, the mobility of PPS molecular chains is confined, leading to the significant change in crystalline behaviors of PPS.