Tensile creep behavior and structures of sisal fiber reinforced styrene butadiene thermoplastic elastomer/polystyrene composites

Styrene butadiene thermoplastic elastomer (SBS)/polystyrene (PS)/sisal fiber (SF) composites were prepared by melt-blending method. The tensile creep behavior of SBS/PS/SF composites was studied and fitted by four viscoelastic models including Findley, Burger, generalized Kelvin-Voigt and Maxwell models. The effects of content and surface properties of SF treated by alkali and silane coupling agent on the creep behavior, structures and thermal properties of the composites under the action of tensile stress were investigated. The results indicated that the generalized Kelvin-Voigt model and generalized Maxwell model could best fit the tensile creep behavior of SBS/PS/SF composites. The creep resistance and thermal stability of the composites improved with the increases of SF content and tensile stress. The interfacial properties of fiber and matrix were enhanced after SF treated by silane, which would be beneficial to the improvements of the creep resistance and thermal stability. The glass transition temperature of the composite increased with the increase of SF content, but decreased after the action of the tensile stress.