Premium
In situ growth of multilayered crystals in amorphous matrix: Thermal, dynamic mechanical, and morphological analysis of nylon‐6/epoxy composites
Author(s) -
Vyas Aniket,
Iroh Jude O.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.39574
Subject(s) - epoxy , materials science , differential scanning calorimetry , composite material , nylon 6 , glass transition , scanning electron microscope , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , dynamic mechanical analysis , polyamide , thermomechanical analysis , curing (chemistry) , in situ polymerization , caprolactam , thermal analysis , polymer , polymerization , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , thermal , thermal expansion , physics , meteorology , engineering , thermodynamics
A new procedure for processing of epoxy/polyamide blend was explored via solution polymerization of ε‐caprolactam in N ‐methylpyrollidone (NMP), which resulted in a suspension of nylon‐6 in solvent at room temperature. The suspension was blended with water based epoxy resin using mechanical stirring at room temperature. Several films were prepared from blend by varying the amount of nylon‐6 without curing agent. All films were fully characterized for thermal and dynamic mechanical properties using differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. The addition of nylon‐6 had a plasticizing effect on epoxy evident by decrease in glass transition temperature ( T g ). The reaction between nylon‐6 and epoxy was studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy by following the characteristic epoxy peak (914 cm −1 ). The growth of nylon‐6 crystals in epoxy matrix lead to spherulitic multiphase morphology, which was observed under scanning electron microscope. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 3319–3327, 2013