Assembly, morphology and thermal stability of polyamide 6 nanotubes

Abstract

Polyamide 6 (PA6) nanotubes array has been prepared successfully using small pore anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane (200 nm) as the template via polymer solution and melt wetting method. The investigation of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) showed that morphology of polymer nanotubes was highly influenced both by the concentration and the quantity of polymer solution. The Thermal Gravity Analysis (TGA) results indicate that the thermal decomposition temperature of PA6 nanotubes is lower 100°C than that of bulk PA6 polymer. However, the thermal decomposition temperature of PA6 nanotubes embedded in AAO membrane is higher than that of bulk polymer.