Heat treatment effect on thermal and thermomechanical properties of polyphenylene sulfide composites reinforced with silane‐treated volcanic ash particles

Thermal and thermomechanical properties of volcanic ash (VA) filled polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) composites were investigated with respect to silane treatment of VA and heat treatment of VA/PPS composites by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), respectively. The content of pristine VA was varied as 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 wt%. After determining the optimum VA contents (10 and 15 wt%), silane treatment was performed with 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (3‐APTS). At last, PPS composites with pristine‐ and silane‐treated VA particles with optimum contents were heat treated at 200°C for 2 h. Adhesion behavior between VA and PPS was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was reported that thermal behavior of VA/PPS composites was dominantly affected by PPS instead of VAs. However, a direct linear relationship was found between the content of pristine VA and stiffness according to glassy storage modulus ( E′ ) and damping factor (tan δ ) results. It was determined that both silane and heat treatment had no significant effect on thermal properties. After silane treatment, a positive effect on both storage modulus and loss factor was obtained. Additionally, heat treatment caused significantly further positive effect on stiffness but drastically caused negative effect on damping. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:1612–1619, 2018. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers