Mechanical property and fracture morphology of fiber‐reinforced polysulfone plasticized with acetylene‐terminated sulfone

The mechanical property and fracture morphology of glass fiber‐ (GF) and carbon fiber‐ (CF) reinforced polysulfone (PSF) blends with bis (4‐(4‐ethynyl phenoxy) phenyl) sulfone (ATS‐C) have been investigated. Experimental results show that the tensile and flexural properties and impact strength of GF‐reinforced ATS‐C/PSF composites decrease as the processing temperature or/and the processing time increase, but CF‐reinforced ATS‐C/PSF composites exhibit better mechanical properties. Although interlaminar shear strenght (ILSS) for fiber‐reinforced ATS‐C/PSF composites decreases, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation of fracture surface indicates that the fractural model of fiber‐reinforced PSF composites changes from the interfacial debonding fracture to the matrix fracture at the interfacial region with addition of ATS‐C and the increase of the processing temperature. The end‐use temperature of polysulfone can be retained and solvent resistance of polysulfone can be improved due to the formation of a semi‐interpenetrating polymer network.