Influence of Processing Technique on the Physical Properties of Modified Polystyrene/Exfoliated Graphite Nanocomposites

This work examines the effect of exfoliated graphite (Exf-G) addition on mechanical, thermal, and non-flammability properties of polystyrene, nitro-polystyrene (PS-NO2), and amino-polystyrene (PS-NH2) by solution and melt processing. Exfoliated graphite yielded unique morphology in solution formed PS-NH2/Exf-G composites. Tensile strength of solution PS-NH2/Exf-G (30.1–53.2 MPa) was enhanced compared with melt route. Addition of Exf-G also improved T10 of solution processed PS-NH2/F-G 0.01–0.5 composites as 455–502°C. Cone calorimetry results showed that PS-NH2/Exf-G 0.5 formed by solution route had lower peak heat release rate (PHRR) value (434 kW/m2). Physical properties of solution caste systems were enhanced relative to melt systems depicting advantage of technique used.