Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of polyphenylene sulfide composites based on organic clay modified by benzimidazolium salt

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)/organic clay nanocomposites were prepared by simple melt blending. A synthesized benzimidazolium salt was used to modify the sodium montmorillonite in order to improve the compatibility with the PPS. The nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PPS/organic clay composites were investigated by differerntial scanning calorimetry(DSC). It was observed that the crystallization peak temperature of PPS/organic clay composites was higher than pure PPS at various cooling rates. Several models such as the Ozawa and Mo equation were used to characterize the nonisothermal cooling crystallization kinetics of the PPS/organic clay composites. The results indicated that the Ozawa equation was not successful, while the Mo equation was successful to describe the nanoisothermal ctystallization kinetics of PPS/organic clay nanocomposites. The results also indicated that organic clay not only served as heterogeneous nucleating agents for PPS crystallization at lower content but also restricted the mobility and diffusion of PPS chains at higher content. These results were further supported by the crystallization activation energy of the samples determined by the Kissinger method.