MORPHOLOGICAL AND FLOW CHARACTERISTICS OF SYNTHESIZED POLYSTYRENE COMPOSITES

A variety of polymers are used in engineering and medical applications. Polystyrene is one of the most important commodity polymer widely used in technical applications. It has applications in household goods, packaging, automobiles and other engineeringapplications. Four fillers calcium carbonate, graphite, mica and talcum powder of micrometer size in the form of powder with threelevel of concentration 1%, 2%, 3% by weight were synthesized with polystyrene. The composites were produced by in-situ polymerization method and the samples were prepared by hand operated injection moulding machine. The melt flow index was performed to study the effects of fillers and their concentrations on the flow properties of composites. The morphological analysis by SEM and EDX were also performed. The particle size was found to be varying from 0.2 ?m to 0.5 ?m.Two-way ANOVA using “Minitab 15” software was used to see the contributions and significance of the input parameters on the output parameters. The addition of fillers are found to be significant while concentrations of fillers insignificant at 5% level of significance.