EFFECT OF MATRIX CRYSTALLINITY ON THE BUCKLING FAILURE OF A PPS THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE

The effect of matrix crystallinity on the critical macrobuckling load of a thermoplastic polyphenylene sulphine/glass fibre composite was st udied using a Southwell plot approach where the critical load was dete rmined by assuming a hyperbolic relationship near the vicinity of the critical load. The results indicate that a higher annealing temperatur e and annealing time resulted in a higher critical buckling load. It w as assumed that this was due to the increase in the degree of crystall inity during annealing, resulting in an increased axial compressive mo dulus and in-plane shear modulus, and subsequently the critical buckli ng load.