Fracture of polystyrene- and molecular silica sol-based nanocomposites during fast compression

Polystyrene-based composites containing hybrid molecular silica sol nanoparticles with a core-shell structure are studied during fast compression. Polystyrene and the related composites are found to fail instantaneously at a certain critical pressure, which is accompanied by the emission of electromagnetic and acoustic waves. The composite composition changes the critical pressure during explosion and the frequency characteristics of the generated electromagnetic and acoustic waves. The charge density transfer mechanism in a composite with a filler concentration higher than 10 wt % is shown to differ from that in composites with a lower filler content.