Morphology and mechanical properties of composites based on polyamide 6 and mineral additives

Polyamide 6 composites filled with up to 30 wt% spherical glass beads, and flake-like talc fillers, were prepared by extrusion and injection moulding. One or more than one filler, with weight percentages varying between 10 and 30 wt%, were added to polyamide 6. Uniaxial tensile, impact and three-point bending tests were used to examine the effect of filler addition on the mechanical behaviour of polyamide 6. Tensile strength, elongation at break, modulus of elasticity impact energy and flexural strength and modulus were obtained. The results showed that the tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of polyamide 6 composite linearly increased with the increase in filler weight ratio while the impact strength and maximum elongation linearly decreased with the increase in filler weight ratio. The overall maximum improvement in mechanical properties was recorded with the addition of 10–20 wt% filler ratios.