Effect of organoclay and preparation methods on the mechanical/thermal properties of microcellular injection molded polyamide 6-clay nanocomposites

Polyamide 6 (PA6)/MMT nanocomposites prepared by in-situ polymerization and melt compounding methods were used in this study. The organoclay PA6 nanocomposites were then injection molded by conventional and microcellular methods. Carbon dioxide was used as the blowing agent. The effect of injection screw speed, organoclay content, and preparation methods on the mechanical/thermal properties was investigated. The results showed that the screw speed of the injection had major effect on the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites: the higher the screw speed, the greater the tensile strength. The nanocomposites have maximum tensile strength, wear resistance, and cell density at clay loadings of 3 wt.% and 5 wt.% for in-situ polymerization and melt compounding respectively. The addition of MMT also improved the thermal stability of the PA6/clay nanocomposites. The XRD results showed that the nanocomposites had no diffraction peaks when made by melt compounding.