Study on Mechanical Properties of Powder Impregnated Glass Fiber Reinforced Poly(phenylene sulphide) by Injection Molding at Various Temperatures

The prepreg of continuous glass fiber reinforced poly(phenylene sulphide) (PPS) was prepared using the powder impregnation technique and cut into the pellets, in which the length of glass fibers was the same as the pellets. After injection molding, the mechanical properties were tested and the effects of the pellet length, fiber content, and thermal treatment on the mechanical properties at different temperatures were studied. It is found that the tensile strength and flexural strength of 6-mm pellet sample are slightly higher than that of 3- and 12-mm pellet samples. The tensile strength, flexural strength, and modulus decrease significantly with increasing the temperature. The notched Izod impact strength at 85 degrees C is higher than both at 25 degrees C and 205 degrees C. At 205 degrees C, the glass fiber reinforced PPS composites can still keep better mechanical properties. When the fiber content ranges from 0 to 50%, the mechanical properties increase with increasing the fiber contents at different temperatures, except the notched Izod impact strength do not further increase at 145 and 205 degrees C with raising the fiber content from 40 to 50%. Thermal treatment could improve the mechanical properties of the composites at higher serving temperature. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 115: 2019-2027, 2010