C10
Novel Nanostructured Polyamide 6/Fluoroelastomer Thermoplastic Elastomeric Blends: Structure, Physical Properties and Dynamic Vulcanization
Shib Shankar Banerjee* and Anil K. Bhowmick
Department of Material Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Patna – 800013, India
ABSTRACT: Novel polyamide 6 (PA6)/fluoroelastomer (FKM) nanostructured thermoplastic elastomeric blends were developed by batch mixing followed by injection molding. The influence of interaction between the components and morphology on physical properties of the blends was analyzed. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy studies, solubility and theoretical analysis of complex modulus clearly indicated that PA6 was the continuous matrix in which fluorocarbon elastomer was present in nanoscale. Low torque ratio (0.34) of rubber/plastic, high mixing speed and long mixing time had an important role in developing the nanostructured morphology of the blend. Tensile strength of the injection molded thermoplastic elastomer was in the range of 27.0 - 52.0 MPa which was much higher than that reported earlier and showed significant improvement with increasing PA6 content. Large shifting of the glass transition temperature of the rubber and the plastic phases towards the lower temperature compared to those pristine polymers was also observed. The above properties were explained with the help of interaction between the components and morphology. Dynamic vulcanization characteristics of FKM during simultaneous mixing with plastic, PA6, for thermoplastic elastomeric compositions was analyzed in terms of induction time, scorch time, optimum cure, delta torque and dynamic cure rate for the first time to understand their processing behaviour. The properties of the dynamically vulcanized thermoplastic elastomer were also reported.
Key words: Polyamide 6, Fluoroelastomer, thermoplastic elastomer,
*Presenting author: shib.pst@gmail.com