Investigation of the nanostructure and mechanical properties of polypropylene/polyamide 6/layered silicate ternary nanocomposites

This work aims to investigate the structure–property relationship in ternary nanocomposites consisting of polypropylene as the matrix, nanoclay as the reinforcement and polyamide 6 as the intermediate phase. In this regard, composites of polypropylene/organoclay, polyamide/organoclay, blends of polypropylene/polyamide, and ternary nanocomposites of polypropylene/polyamide/layered silicate with and without compatibilizer were produced via melt compounding. Nanostructure was investigated by wide-angle X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy was employed to study the microstructure. Modulus of elasticity and yield strength were measured by uniaxial tensile test. Results show that silicate layers can only be observed inside polyamide particles. Moreover, polypropylene was unable to intercalate the grade of organoclay used in this study. While polyamide/organoclay system exhibited an exfoliated structure, the nanostructure of ternary nanocomposites was chiefly intercalated, due to the high concentration of silicate layers inside polyamide particles. Incorporation of organoclay into the polypropylene/polyamide system was seen to have a noticeable effect on the shape and size of polyamide particles. In addition, elastic modulus and yield strength were observed to be directly affected by incorporation of nanoclay and compatibilizer into the polypropylene matrix, respectively. The simultaneous presence of the two constituents in the system resulted in samples with superior mechanical properties in the elastic as well as the plastic deformation regime.