Influence of the processing conditions on the morphology and the mechanical properties of polyamide 6-carbon fibre-carbon nano tube-compounds

Abstract

Polyamide 6-compounds containing carbon nano tubes and carbon fibres are prepared by melt compounding. To investigate the influence of the processing conditions on the mechanical properties and the morphology of carbon fibre reinforced polyamide 6-nanocomposites the process parameters are varied while preparing the compounds. The processing conditions affect the mechanical properties and the morphology. The investigations reveal, that a micro-nano-compound with a PA6-matrix should be compounded at a maximum barrel temperature of 260°C, a throughput of 15 kg/h at a screw speed of 500 min-1 and a screw configuration, which introduces a low amount of shear energy into the compound. These processing conditions lead to a comparatively high specific mechanical energy input of 334 Wh/kg and to the best set of mechanical properties of the investigated materials. However, the morphology of the investigated carbon fibre reinforced nanocomposites does not show significant differences and has to be further investigated. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.