Polystyrene nanocomposite materials: Preparation, morphology, and mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties

Abstract

ABSTRACT:In this study, we prepared polystyrene (PS) resin nanocomposites with antistatic properties by meltblending PS with nanoscale zinc oxide (ZnO). The effects of nanoscale ZnO on the electrical and physical characteristics of the PS nanocomposites were investigated. Two kinds of nanoscale powders, spherical zinc oxide (s-ZnO) and zinc oxide whisker (w-ZnO), were selected. The coupling agents vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) and phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES) were used to improve the compatibility between the nanopowders and PS resin. The addition of s-ZnO and wZnO improved the antistatic characteristics of the materials. The surface resistivities of the s-ZnO and w-ZnO nanocomposites were significantly reduced by modification with VTES and PTES. The addition of ZnO nanopowder increased the flexural modulus and reduced the flexural strength. The silane coupling agents improved the flexural properties of the nanocomposites. The glass-transition temperatures and thermal degradation temperatures of the ZnO/PS nanocomposites increased with ZnO content. Treatment with silane increased the glass-transition temperatures and thermal degradation temperatures of the composites.

Effects of flower-like ZnO nanowhiskers on the mechanical, thermal and antibacterial properties of waterborne polyurethane

“…Among the 1D ZnO nanostructures, nanorods have been widely studied because of their easy preparation and wide applications [8]. In previous studies, ZnO nanostructures were combined with PMMA [13,14], polystyrene [15], polyamide [16], polyacrylonitrile [17], polyacrylate [18], etc. Compared with the original polymers, the yielded composite materials present a lot of excellent performance.…”

One-step synthesis of highly monodisperse hybrid silica spheres in aqueous solution

“…Organic-inorganic hybrid materials are used in the biocatalyst [3][4][5], the surface modification [6][7][8], and the graft [9][10][11][12][13]. In the organic-inorganic hybrid materials, synthesis of the monodisperse surface-modified silica spheres is widely studied for their modified functionalities [14,15] and extensive applications in photonic crystals [16][17][18][19].…”

Morphology and properties of poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)/poly(methyl methacrylate)/zinc oxide composites

“…The higher impact strength of SAN/PMMA/ZnO composites can be explained by the dispersed ZnO particles uniformly distributed in the polymer blend matrix at low ZnO contents, which were able to absorb highimpact energy and the stress can effectively transfer from the matrix to fillers. 39 Effect of ZnO on thermal properties The effect of ZnO on the degradation temperature of all composites is shown in Figure 2. The degradation temperature was measured by TGA and was calculated at 10% weight loss of the composites.…”