Mechanical properties of polyamide-6/montmorillonite nanocomposites — Prepared by the twin-screw extruder mixed technique

In this paper, we present the effects of incorporated montmorillonite (MMT) on a surface and the bulk mechanical properties of as-synthesized PA6/MMT composites that are prepared using the twin-screw extruder mixed technique. The as-prepared polymer–clay nanocomposite (PCN) materials in the form of a pellet subsequently characterized using the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In this experiment, the surface mechanical property studies (i.e., wear resistance and hardness) show that the integration of MMTs exhibited a distinct increase on shore hardness was up to 5 wt.% of MMTs loaded in composites. Moreover, the enhancement of wear resistance of as-prepared composites, compared to pure PA6, can be further identified by the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observation of the surface morphology after testing. On the other hand, for the bulk mechanical property studies (i.e., tensile strength and flexural strength), we found that the composites containing 3 wt.% of MMTs in the PA6 matrix exhibited the best performance in tensile strength and flexural strength. It means that this composition of MMTs exhibits good compatibility with the PA6 matrix. Generally, PCN materials show an obvious enhancement of mechanical properties of neat polymer by an incorporated low loading of organophilic-clay platelets into a PA6 matrix used for the evaluation of the mechanical properties of the as-prepared samples. Furthermore, it was found that at higher MMT loading (e.g. 5 wt.%), MMTs were to be aggregated in the polymer matrix, as observed in TEM. Also, the result leads to an obvious decrease in tensile and flexural strength tests.