Investigation of mechanical, thermal and microstructural properties of PA6/NBR nanocomposites reinforced with silicon carbide nanoparticles

In this article, the friction stir process (FSP) was used to add various weight percentages of silicon carbide (SiC) nanoparticles to the base phase of PA6/NBR. Also, the effect of three variables of the rotation speed tool (ω), traverse speed (V) and the weight percentage of silicon carbide nanoparticle (S) on the mechanical properties (young’s modulus and impact strength) were investigated by response surface methodology (RSM) based on the Box-Behnken design. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to determine the dispersion of nanoparticles in the base phase and the effect of their addition on the microstructure of PA6/NBR thermoplastic elastomer. Moreover, the thermal properties of PA6/NBR/SiC samples with different weight percentages of silicon carbide nanoparticles were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The values obtained from the regression equations showed that, under optimal conditions of the rotational speed of 1200 rpm, traverse speed of 20 mm/min and the weight percentage of nanoparticles of 3.8 wt. %, the maximum young's modulus and impact strength 665.18 MPa and 62.26 J/m, respectively could be obtained. Also the crystallization and melting temperature increased to 198 and 222.8 °C, respectively.