Improved mechanical properties of graphene oxide/short carbon fiber–polyphenylene sulfide composites

Abstract

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is an important special engineering plastic. In order to broaden its applications, graphene oxide (GO) coated short carbon fiber (SCF) was added to reinforce the mechanical properties of PPS composites. Firstly, the surface sizing agent GO was employed to treat SCF using the physical absorption method. Afterward, the GO‐coated SCF/PPS composites were obtained by adopting the conventional extrusion compounding and injection molding techniques. Results indicated that the presence of GO could significantly enhance both the surface area and wettability of SCF, thereby leading to an increase of the interfacial adhesion between SCF and PPS resin. As a result, both the tensile and flexural strengths of PPS composites are efficiently enhanced by using the GO coated SCF when compared with those modified with the unsized SCF. Both the tensile and flexural modulus are also increased thanks to the remarkable elastic modulus of GO. It was found that the optimum GO content was 1 wt% which could render effective enhancement of all mechanical performance. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:3866–3876, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers