Probing polymer chain constraint and synergistic effects in nylon 6-clay nanocomposites and nylon 6-silica flake sub-micro composites with nanomechanics

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Chen, J., Beake, B.D., Bell, G.A., Tait, Y. and Gao, F. ORCID: 0000-0003-4064-9579, 2015. Probing polymer chain constraint and synergistic effects in nylon 6-clay nanocomposites and nylon 6-silica flake sub-micro composites with nanomechanics. Nanocomposites, 1 (4), pp. 185-194. ISSN 2055-0324

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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1080/20550324.2015.1116842

Abstract

In this study, we report that a synergistic effect exists in the surface mechanical properties of nylon 6–clay nanocomposites (NC) that can be shown by nanomechanical testing. The hardness, elastic modulus, and nanoindentation creep behavior of nylon 6 and its nanocomposites with different filler loading produced by melt compounding were contrasted to those of model nylon 6 sub-microcomposites (SMC) reinforced by sub-micro-thick silica flakes in which constraint cannot occur due to the difference in filler geometry. Polymer chain constraint was assessed by the analysis of nanoindentation creep data. Time-dependent creep decreased with increasing the filler loading in the NC consistent with the clay platelets exerting a constraint effect on the polymer chains which increases with filler loading. In contrast, there was no evidence of any reduced time-dependent creep for the SMC samples, consistent with a lack of constraint expected due to much lower aspect ratio of the silica flakes

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Nanocomposites

Creators:

Chen, J., Beake, B.D., Bell, G.A., Tait, Y. and Gao, F.

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis

Date:

2015

Volume:

Number: