Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is commonly used in automobile industry, aeronautics and space electrical–electronic components, and mechanical applications. Mussel shell wastes could be an economical reinforcement alternative for polymer-based composites. Which also gets out the environmental trouble of mussel shell wastes. To examine the effect of mussel shell wastes as reinforcing material, particulate mussel shell wastes were incorporated into the PPS matrix in different mass ratios (0, 1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%). Materials were characterized with ball on disc, scratch, solid particle erosion, hardness, and tensile tests. According to tensile test results, mussel shell reinforcement has a positive effect on elastic modulus and tensile strength of PPS. Moreover, mussel shell filling increased the adhesive wear resistance of PPS. According to scratch test results, scratch hardness value was increased, and residual penetration depth was decreased by mussel shell reinforcement. Furthermore, adding mussel shells in PPS increased the cutting volume value and the scratch behavior of PPS turn from ductile to brittle. Mussel shell waste supplementation increased solid particle erosion resistance at low particle impact angles but decreased it at right angles and those close to right angles. The erosive wear resistance of the PPS samples increased at 30° impingement angle by mussel shell reinforcement. The plastic deformation ability of PPS was decreased by adding mussel cell. As a result of this study, it is seen that usage of mussel shell wastes could be possible in the PPS matrix as a reinforcement material.

In this study, polyphenylene sulphide was used as a matrix material due to its superior engineering properties. Expanded perlite is formed substantially from silica oxides, and it is a volcanic based and porous structure material. Its low price and low density make it very usable as a filler material. For this reason, expanded perlite reinforced polyphenylene sulphide matrix composites were prepared at various weight ratios (0, 1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%). Mechanical and tribological characterizations were done with tensile tests, hardness measurements, solid particle erosion, ball on disc, and scratch tests. According to the tensile test results, a synergistic effect was observed in mechanical properties by using perlite as a reinforcing agent. As expected, perlite reinforcement resulted in an increase in the modulus of 54% in composites. As well as tensile strength of the composite increased by approximately 13%. Furthermore, the perlite particle reinforcement improved the adhesion resistance by 73% and the scratch resistance by 30%. On the other hand, especially at low impact angles, perlite particle reinforcement decreased the erosive wear resistance of the pure polyphenylene sulphide polymer by 50%. Furthermore, expanded perlite reinforcement decreased the plastic deformation ability of polyphenylene sulphide. In consequence of this study, it has been found that expanded perlite particles can be used as an alternative filler instead of conventional reinforcing particles.

Poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) is a high-performance thermoplastic engineering polymer, which exhibits outstanding properties such as electrical insulation, dimensional and thermal stability, chemical resistance, etc. In addition to this, PPS has a high degree of crystallinity and it exhibits good physical properties at elevated temperatures. Owing to these properties, PPS is widely used in electrical and electronic components, automobile industry and mechanical applications. These outstanding properties of PPS can be attributed to its chemical structure, composed of phenyl groups linked by a sulfur atom, which gives rigidity to the chain. On the other hand, the brittleness with low elongation strain, toughness and crack propagation resistance also restricts its further applications. Several methods are used to overcome these undesirable properties of PPS. Blending of PPS with other polymers is one of these methods. In this study, Ethylene-Acrylic Ester-Glycidyl Methacrylate terpolymer (Lotader ® -AX8900) was used to improve the toughness and crack propagation resistance properties of PPS. For this purpose, PPS/Lotader (0, 2, 5, 10 wt.% Lotader) blends were prepared at various compositions. The blends were manufactured using laboratory scale twin screw extruder and injection molding machine. Mechanical properties of blends were investigated by using tensile test method. In addition to this, crack propagation and toughness of samples were investigated by using essential work of fracture (EWF) method. As a result of this study, it was found that Lotader addition significantly increases the toughness and crack propagation resistance of PPS.

In this study, various heat treatments (annealings) were applied to carbon fiber reinforced polyetheretherketone (CF/PEEK) samples at four different temperatures (185, 225, 265, and 305°C) along two different holding times (30 and 270 min). The effects of changing matrix morphology, degree of crystallinity, and fiber‐matrix interface properties on thermo‐mechanical properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis analyzes. Also, annealed CF/PEEK samples were tested to determine solid particle erosion characteristics. It was observed that the matrix crystallinity, fiber/matrix interface properties, and tribological properties of the CF/PEEK composites changed significantly with the thermal history. There was an increase in the degree of crystallinity with the increase in annealing temperature. It was observed that the degree of crystallinity increased up to about 27% and the damping factor decreased up to about 45%. As a result of the solid particle erosion tests performed under normal impact conditions, it was determined that the formation of the transcrystalline layer formed by heat treatment adversely affected the solid particle erosion resistance of the CF/PEEK. Erosion resistance of the heat‐treated samples (having higher fiber/matrix interface) was approximately 50% lower compared to the quenched sample. While the erosion rate for quenched samples is 14.5 × 10−5 g/g, this rate rises to 26.1 × 10−5 g/g for annealed samples. In addition, surface topography was examined by means of an optical profilometry, and surface morphology was examined by means of scanning electron microscopy. These examinations confirmed the experimental results.

Poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) is one of the high-performance engineering polymers and it exhibits superior behavior, such as electrical insulation, dimensional and thermal stability, chemical resistance for various industrial applications. In addition to this, PPS has a high degree of crystallinity and it maintains these properties at high temperatures. These advantageous properties of PPS can be dependent on its chemical structure, composed of phenyl groups linked by a sulfur atom, which gives rigidity to the polymer chains. Owing to these properties, PPS is widely used in electrical and electronic components, automobile industry and mechanical applications. On the other hand, brittleness of PPS restricts its further applications. For this reason, ethylene-acrylic esterglycidyl methacrylate terpolymer (Lotader ® -AX8900) was used to overcome the brittleness of PPS. The effects of terpolymer addition on the thermal and thermomechanical properties of blends were investigated in this study. PPS/Lotader (0, 2, 5, 10 wt.% Lotader ® ) blends of various compositions were prepared. The blends were prepared by using laboratory scale micro compounder and injection molding machine. Thermomechanical and thermal properties of blends were investigated by means of dynamic mechanic analysis and differential scanning calorimeter test methods. As a result of this study, it was found that increasing loading level of Lotader ® significantly decreased the crystallinity and increased glass transition temperature of PPS. On the other hand, Lotader ® addition did not affect the melting temperature of PPS considerably. Results of dynamic mechanic analysis test revealed that while damping factor peak and loss modulus values of blends increased with the addition of Lotader ® , storage modulus of blends decreased with the increasing loading level of Lotader ® . When all test results are considered, it can be concluded that Lotader addition changes the brittle nature of PPS to ductile nature. In addition to this, 2 wt.% Lotader addition to PPS enables the optimum ductility for PPS without deteriorating its other properties.