Rheology of silica-filled polystyrene: From microcomposites to nanocomposites

Rheology and viscoelastic behavior of polystyrene (PS)/silica microcomposites and nanocomposites were studied. The apparent viscosity, transient shear stress growth after startup shear flow and stress relaxation after cessation of flow at various shear rates, the complex dynamic viscosity, the storage and loss moduli at small and large strain amplitudes and various frequencies were performed. The effect of size, shape and volume concentration of silica was discussed. The maximum volume concentration, corresponding to the concentration at which the relative viscosity of mixtures goes to infinity, with respect to the hydrodynamic contribution of the particles and to polymer-filler interactions was obtained. The difference between the yield stress and residual stress is shown. The domain of equivalence between the apparent viscosity as a function of the shear rate in steady state flow and the complex dynamic viscosity as a function of the strain rate amplitude in highly nonlinear region of oscillatory flow was established. The viscoelastic behavior was interpreted based on the morphology of microcomposites and nanocomposites observed by SEM.