Experimental Study on the Thermal Behavior and Mechanical Properties of PA6/CaCO3 Nanocomposites

The recent researches indicate that adding a small amount of mineral fillers in the scale of nanometer, instead of micro or larger particles, can improve the physical and mechanical properties of polymers. Now in this paper, by choosing the polyamide 6 (PA6) as the polymeric matrix, we experimentally study the effect of nano-CaCO3 on the thermal behavior and mechanical properties of the resulted nanocomposite. To this end, 3 nanocomposite samples containing 1, 3, and 5 phr of nanoparticles with 1 phr of compatibilizer in each blend, which they are prepared via melt compounding followed by injection molding, are compared. Thus, besides of morphology of the samples, the tests of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), melt flow index, and tensile, flexural, and impact strength are performed. The results of the DSC test indicate that the present of CaCO3 nanoparticles has nucleating effect and can raise the degree of crystallinity. Also, nanoparticles improve the melt flow index. Moreover, the mechanical tests reveal that the addition of nano-CaCO3 particles into PA6 leads to the increase of the tensile and flexural strength up to 19% and 25%, respectively, and the rise in the impact strength up to 20%.