Effects of clay on phase morphology and mechanical properties in polyamide 6/EPDM-g-MA/organoclay ternary nanocomposites

In this study, both organoclay and EPDM-g-MA rubber were used to simultaneously improve the toughness and stiffness of polyamide 6 (PA6). We first prepared PA6/EPDM-g-MA/organoclay ternary nanocomposites using melt blending. Then the composites were subjected to traditional injection molding and so-called dynamic packing injection molding. The dispersion of clay, phase morphology, crystallinity and orientation of PA6 as well the mechanical properties were characterized by WAXD, SEM, DSC, 2D-WAXS and mechanical testing, respectively. The effects of clay on phase morphology and mechanical properties of PA6/EPDM-g-MA blends could be summarized as follows: (1) weakening interphase adhesion between PA6 and EPDM-g-MA rubber particles, resulted in increasing of rubber particle size, as the clay and rubber contents are low; (2) preventing coalescence of rubber domains, arisen in decreasing of rubber particle size, as the clay and rubber contents are high; (3) the blocking effect on the overlap of stress volume around rubber particles caused broadening of the brittle–ductile transition region and decrease of toughness, and (4) the effective stress transfer leading a better reinforcement when the interparticle distance is smaller than the critical value.