ELASTOMER-TOUGHENED POLY(PHENYLENE SULFIDE)

For use as electrical and electronics parts, or automobile and mechani cal parts, toughened poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) is desired. For the se applications, our. investigation centered on improving the toughnes s of PPS and developing elastomer-toughened PPS and elastomer-toughene d compounds of PPS. Using chemically treated PPS and an olefinic elast omer with a functional group, we developed elastomer-toughened PPS usi ng a reactive processing method. In the PPS matrix, the elastomer is f inely dispersed. While the notched Izod impact strength of the origina l PPS is about 1 kg . cm/cm, elastomer-toughened PPS has a notched imp act strength around 50 kg . cm/cm. The notched fracture surface of ela stomer-toughened PPS is observed using a scanning electron microscope. We concluded that the mechanism for the toughening is attributed to e nergy dissipation by matrix yield.