influence of micro and nano silica on mechanical properties of plasticized sulfur composites

in this paper the influence of two different sizes of silica particles (micro-silica and nano-silica) was studied on mechanical properties of sulfur and sulfur composite. to improve the structural properties, sulfur was plasticized using dicyclopentadiene (dcpd) and methyl styrene (mst). plasticized sulfur composite was prepared by melt blending of plasticized sulfur and silica particles. the increment in compressive and flexural strengths revealed that the micro-particles enhance mechanical properties of sulfur while nano-particles improved mechanical properties of plasticized sulfur. viscosity measurements indicated that mechanical properties of nano composites containing matrix with low viscosity (sulfur plasticized with methyl styrene) are improved with increasing mixer speed but increasing the mixer speed had negative effect on composites containing matrix with higher viscosity (sulfur plasticized with dicyclopentadiene).