Investigation on the crystalline morphologies of polyphenylene sulfide and interfacial effect in its fibre composites

Uncured polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) may form a perfect spherulite structure with a diameter of the spherulites larger than 100 μm. On the free surfaces of uncured PPS samples after isothermal crystallization a variety of spherulite patterns can be observed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). However, the crystalline morphologies of PPS are greatly affected by the curing conditions. Graphite fibres, carbon fibres, and glass fibres possess the ability for inducing the transcrystallization of PPS to a different degree. The corrosive resistance of the PPS resin is not only related to its chemical structure, but also to its aggregation structure, and furthermore to the interfacial effect of carbon fibres in the composites.