Miscibility of Semi-flexible Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Copolyesteramide with Polyamide 66

Liquid crystalline polymer-polyamide 66 (LCP/PA66) blends were compounded by using a Brabender mixing followed by compression moulding. The LCP employed was a semi-flexible liquid crystalline copolyesteramide based on 30% (molar fraction ) of p-amino benzoic acid (ABA ) and 70% (molar fraction) of poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET). The LCP/PA66 blends were investigated in terms of the thermal and dynamic mechanical properties. It was found that PA66 and LCP components of the blends are miscible in the molten state, but are partially miscible in the solid state. The inclusion of the semi-flexible LCP into PA66 retards the crystallization rate of PA66. Furthermore, the melting temperature and the degree of crystallinity of PA66 are reduced considerably due to the LCP addition.

COMPARISON OF POLYAMIDE 66/MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITES PREPARED FROM POLYAMIDE 6 AND POLYAMIDE 66 BASED MASTER-BATCHES

Two master-batches,polyamide 66 (PA66)/organo-montmorillonite (OMMT) and polyamide 6 (PA6)/OMMT, prepared by melt compounding with methyl methacrylate (MMA) as co-intercalation agent,have been used to prepare nearly exfoliated PA661montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites.The resulting nanocomposites are compared in view of their morphology and properties.Nano-scale dispersion of OMMT is realized in both types of nanocomposites,as revealed by XRD,TEM and Molau tests.PA66/MMT nanocomposites having superior mecha...

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ORGANOMONTMORILLONITE AND POLYAMIDE 66/MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITES

The montmorillonites (MMTs), layered, smectite-type silicates, were premodified by two different methods prior to the polymer melt intercalation. In one case MMTs were modified with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and termed as organomontmorillonites (OMMTs); in the other case MMTs were modified by nylon, and the products were called modified montmorillonites (MMMTs). The effects of CTAB and nylon on the MMTs were investigated by using TG and WAXD. The results show that interlayer spacings of CTAB and nylon modified MMTs are larger than that of sodium MMTs. Then, polyamide 66 (PA 66)/MMT nanocomposites were obtained through the method of melt intercalation of polymers. The nanocomposites were characterized by WAXD, TEM and Molau experiments. The results indicate that the MMTs disperse homogeneously in the PA 66 matrix. The mechanical properties of nanocomposites, such as tensile properties and flexural properties, were also measured and show a tendency to increase with increase of MMT content and reach the maximum values at 5phr MMT content. The heat distortion temperature (HDT) of the nanocomposites (7 phr) is about 32 K higher than that of pure PA 66.

Effect of heating treatment on trap level distribution in polyamide 66 film electrets

The effect of heating treatment on the trap level distribution in polyamide 66 film electret is studied by thermally stimulated depolarization current （TSDC） technique. For annealed polyamide 66, there are three trap levels that respectively originate from space charge trapped in amorphous phase, interphase and crystalline phase. There is one peak that originates from space charge trapped in amorphous phase for quenched one. Using multi-point method to fit the experimental curves, the detrapping current peaks can be separated and the trap depth is obtained. The shallower trap levels trapped in amorphous phase and interphase are obviously close to the deeper trap level trapped in crystalline phase for annealed polyamide 66 as the polarization temperature increases, while the trap level distribution remains unaffected by polarization temperature for quenched one.

Influence of Layered Aluminoborophosphate on Flame Retardance, Crystallization Behaviors and Mechanical Properties of Polyamide 66 Systems

A layered aluminoborophosphate（LABP-DDA） was hydrothermally synthesized using dodecylamine as a structure-directing agent, and was added into polyamide 66（PA66） to obtain nanocomposites, PA66/LABP-DDA, via melt intercalation method. The characterization results of transmission electron microscopy（TEM） and small angle X-ray scattering （SAXS） indicate that LABP-DDA has been successfully exfoliated into nano-layers of PA66 matrix. The unstable γ phase of PA66 was found in the composites with the help of X-ray diffraction（XRD） and differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）. The heterogeneous nucleation effect of LABP-DDA resulted in an increasement of about 10 ℃ in melting temperature and an increasement of about 7% in crystallinity when compared with those of neat PA66. The introduction of LABP-DDA did not significantly affect the toughness and strength of PA66. The results of flammability test indicate that LABP-DDA possesses positive synergistic flame retarding effect in the presence of melamine polyphosphate（MPP） and the 77%PA66/（23-x）%MPP/x%LABP-DDA（x=1, 2） samples in thickness of 1.6 mm reached from Fail to V-1 rating based on UL94, compared with 77% PA66/23%MPE.

Ecological Dyeing of Polyamide 6, 6(PA66) Fabrics with Monascus Pigments in Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane(D5) Solvent

Synthetic dyes in the aqueous media have been commonly used for textile dyeing, resulting in resource and environmental pressure arising from consumption of water and environmentally unfriendly chemicals. In this study, an eco-friendly process of dyeing polyamide 6, 6(PA66) fabrics with natural Monascus pigments in decamethylcyclopentasiloxane(D5) solvent has been developed to minimize water consumption and effluent generation. The influence of processing parameters including dyeing temperature, dyebath pH and dyeing time on dyeing effects was explored. It was shown that color strength and color fastness of the samples dyed in D5 media were higher than those of the samples dyed in the aqueous media. Moreover, PA66 fabrics exhibited the highest color strength, good color fastness and a bacteriostatic rate of 53.6% against Staphylococcus aureus when it was dyed at pH of 3.5 and temperature of 80 ℃ for 30 min.

The Crystallization Behavior Regulating Nature of Hydrogen Bonds Interaction on Polyamide 6,6 by Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)

The crystallization behavior of polyamide 6,6(PA66) under complex flow field is of great importance for its final mechanical properties.Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)(PVP) was applied as crystallization modifying agency to improve processability of PA66.The regulation nature on hydrogen bonds(H-bonds) interaction of PVP was studied upon cooling process.As revealed by in situ FTIR,the sample with 5 wt% PVP displays decreased enthalpy change(ΔH) for both the generation of H-bonds and the transition of H-bonds from “disordered” to “ordered” state,which illustrates the molecular mechanism for the regulation of crystallzation behavior.Moveover,2D-WAXD is applied to reveal the evolution of microstructure for sample under external injection field.Hermans orientation factor(f_(H)) decreases obviously with the addition of PVP,because the relaxation of chain segments is promoted as well the crystallization is retarded.The above crystallization and microstructure changes during the processing provokes the improvement of processability without the apparent sacrifice of mechanical properties.

Surface Modification of Polyamide66 Fabric by Grafting with Vinyltrimethoxysilane

Melt-dripping is always a big chanllenge in flame retardant finishing of synthetic fabrics. In this work, vinyltrimethoxysilane（VTMS） was introduced onto the polyamide66（PA66） surface by microwave grafting to improve the fire performance. The chemical structure of the grafted fabric was characterized by attenuated total reflection Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy（ATR-FTIR） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）. The thermal stability analysis and flammability evaluation of the grafted samples by thermogravimetric analysis（TGA）, cone calorimetry, vertical burning tests and limiting oxygen index（LOI） demonstrate that the presence of grafting chains significantly reduces the dripping tendency and decreases the heat release rate of polyamide66（PA66） fabric. The surface morphology observed by scanning electron microscope（SEM） indicates that VTMS can not only promote the formation of protective layers, which prevent the substrate from further thermal degradation, but also promote the char formation ofPA66 substrate during combustion.