Experimental studies on morphology and impact behavior of PA6/ABS/CaCO3 nanocomposites

Nanocomposites based on PA6/ABS (60/40) containing 3 phr of POE-gr-MA and 2, 5 and 8 wt.% of CaCO3 nanoparticles (10-15 nm) were prepared by melt compounding, using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder, followed by injection molding process. The morphology and impact properties were characterized. The inclusion of coated CaCO3 nanoparticles into PA6/ABS altered the morphology, and as a consequence, ABS particle size in PA6 matrix was increased. This result was attributed to the nonpolar natures of ABS and coated CaCO3 as well as very small nanoparticles’ size. Incorporation of CaCO3 nanoparticles noticeably affected the impact properties. By adding 2 wt.% of nanoparticles, the impact strength in notched samples was increased as high as 160% when compared to net PA6/ABS. Due to their high flexibility, no break was observed in unnotched samples containing 2 and 5 wt.% of nanoparticles.