The dynamic mechanical behaviour of blends of polyphenylene sulfide with acetylene terminated sulfone

The dynamic mechanical behaviour of blends of poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) with the acetylene terminated sulfone bis(4-(4-ethynylphenoxy)phenyl)sulfone (ESF) was investigated by torsional braid analysis (TBA). A uniform dispersed system of ESF/PPS may be obtained by a solution process at 200°C, and can be maintained during the heat treatment up to 400°C. The increase of T_g of the blended system was found to be inappreciable by one-step and short time (e.g. 1 h) heat treatment, whatever the ESF fraction is. By a long term heat treatment or by step-curing, the T_g of the system may be raised from 180 to 220°C, in company with the increase of rigidity at 300°C, compared with pure PPS. The flexural modulus and interlaminar shear strength of continuous unidirectional carbon fibre composites with a blended matrix of ESF/PPS = 10/90 are significantly higher than those of composites with pure PPS matrix.