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pps proceeding
Symposium: S06 - Morphology and structural development
Oral Presentation
 
 

Morphology and Structural Development of Toughened Polyamide 6 Using Graphene Oxide and Compatibilizer

Mirzaee Ramin (1), Aref-Azar Ahmad (1)*

(1) Amirkabir University of Technology, 424 Hafez Ave - Tehran - Tehran - Iran

The influence of two various types compatibilizer including graphene oxide (GO) and modified elastomer was investigated on morphology and mechanical properties of toughened polyamide 6 (PA6). Not only does PA6 are notch-sensitive but it also becomes brittle in minus temperatures. Therefore, in our study, it blended with Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR) in order to achieve toughened PA6. PA6 and SBR thermodynamically are incompatible, so the ultimate mechanical properties of blends are weakened. Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) grafted onto SBR with the aid of N-vinylpyrrolidone, as a comonomer, in order to obtain the first compatibilizer. Optimal conditions for grafting of GMA were designed using three-factor-three-level response surface methodology (RSM). The different obtained compatibilizers were chosen based on the least gel content and the highest grafting degree of GMA in order to blend with PA6/SBR by the extruder. Not only did the notched impact strength improve but the toughness of blends also increased. The morphology was studied by Scanning electron microscope (SEM). It demonstrated SBR-g-GMA effectively reduced the domain size of rubber particles because Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) portrayed the epoxy groups of GMA reacted with amine groups of PA6. Therefore, the compatibility between PA6 and SBR improved. Further compatibilizing was achieved using GO as another compatibilizer. 0.25, 0.5 and 1% weight percent of GO were incorporated in the PA6/SBR/SBR-g-GMA blend which had had the smallest domain size. Using GO resulted in the increase of toughness, notched impact strength, and the decrease of domain size because of three main reasons including the reaction between epoxy groups of GO and amine groups of PA6 which was accepted using FTIR, GOs hinder the coalescence between droplets as well as it increased the viscosity of PA6.