Characterization and morphological development of polypropylene/polyamide 6 blends using polyamide 6 powder and single-walled carbon nanotube

Abstract

In this study, polyamide 6 and polypropylene (50/50 weight ratio) blend with 2 wt.% of single-walled carbon nanotubes was prepared by melt processing. Cryo-milling process was employed to produce the micro-sized powder form of polyamide 6. In order to evaluate the influence of polyamide 6 powder (PNPS2) on the morphology of blend, granule form of polyamide 6 (NPS2) was employed for comparison. Improvement of thermal conductivity (about 31% increase) was observed via development of fiber-like morphology of PNPS2, compared to NPS2 (co-continuous morphology). Due to small and coarse shape of polyamide 6 powder, it may hinder the coalescence of the polyamide 6 phase, resulting in the reduction of polyamide 6 nodules size, contributing to the development of fiber-like morphology. No statistical difference was found in the mechanical property of PNPS2 and NPS2. With a 60.43% of phase continuity of polyamide 6 phase in PNPS2, fiber-like morphology contributed to the increase of effective single-walled carbon nanotubes volume concentration with more filler-to-filler connection, resulting in the improvement in thermal conductivity.

Keywords

Polymer–matrix composites microstructures thermal conductivity single-walled carbon nanotube

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