Thermophysical and rheological behavior of polystyrene/silica nanocomposites: Investigation of nanoparticle content

Research highlights: → The production method is a combination between solvent and extrusion methods. → The production method resulted a proper particle distribution. → The Investigation has been done from low to high contents of nanoparticle addition. → The Themophysical studies showed different trends in comparison with the other studies. -- Abstract: In this work, solvent blending in combination with extruding are applied to provide polystyrene/silica nanocomposite specimens. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) show same nanoparticle dispersion in PS matrix in low to high filler loadings. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMTA) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) were used to study the thermophysical characteristic of the nanocomposites in solid state. In addition, the melt state rheological behavior of the samples was investigated under constant and zero shear rates. Interestingly, different behaviors were detected in nanocomposites in low and high nanoparticle loadings. In addition, rheological characteristics of molten polymer are dramatically affected in samples with low nanosilica concentration while stabilized in high filler loadings.