A study of the effect of polystyrene sulfonation on the performance of terephthaloyl chloride-dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone copolymer/polystyrene system

Thermal, morphological, and mechanical properties of composites of a liquid crystalline copolymer (LCP) poly(terephthaloyl chloride)-co-(p,p'-dihydrox ydiphenyl sulfone) with polystyrene (PS) and sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) a re presented and discussed. Sulfonation of polystyrene was expected to impr ove the interfacial adhesion by introducing hydrogen bonding in the LCP/PS system. The degree of sulfonation was 11 %. The incompatibility (lack of pr oper interfacial adhesion) of the LCP/PS system resulted in sharp decrease in the composite tensile strength with LCP addition. The performance of the system did not change when processed at a higher temperature (270 degrees C instead of 225 degrees C). While a composite plate of 25 % LCP/PS could n ot be fabricated, it was possible for LCP/SPS (processed at 215 degrees C), indicating some improvement in interfacial bonding by sulfonation, Sulfona tion of PS resulted in fracture with some degree of plastic deformation for pure SPS matrix and also the LCP/SPS system with the lowest LCP content (1 wt %), whereas plastic deformation was not observed for PS used as receive d. The strength of the LCP/SPS system also decreased with increase in LCP c ontent, indicating that 11 % sulfonation is not sufficient to introduce sig nificant compatibility, but it was not as dramatic as that for LCP/PS. The performance of the LCP/SPS system was not affected significantly by heat tr eatment at the process temperature.