Properties of syndiotactic polystyrene composites with surface modified short Kevlar fiber

This paper is concerned with the effects of the surface modified Kevlar fiber on the crystalline, thermal, dynamic mechanical properties of the Kevlar fiber reinforced syndoitactic polystyrene (s-PS) composites. The crystallization temperature shifts to a higher value in case of unmodified and fluorinated Kevlar fiber reinforced composites in comparison to the oxy-fluorinated one. Kevlar fibers enhance the crystallization of the matrix through heterogeneous nucleation. Modified Kevlar fiber reinforcement significantly improved the thermal stability of the composites as evidenced by the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). dynamic mechanical analysis and differential scanning calorimetry show the shift of T-g to slightly higher value in case of modified Kevlar fiber reinforced s-PS in comparison to the unmodified derivative. This is because of the more fiber/matrix interaction in case of modified Kevlar fiber/s-PS. Dynamic mechanical analysis shows that an increase in the storage modulus is more pronounced in case of surface modified Kevlar fibers. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.