The Effect of Crystallinity on the Toughness of Cast Polyamide 6 Rods with Different Diameters

The present paper concentrates on the toughness and the degree of crystallinity of the magnesium-catalyzed polyamide 6 rods cast in different diametres, which are commonly used for gear manufacturing. Its toughness cannot be regarded as a constant feature due to the casting technology. The mechanical properties of the semi-finished products are sensitive to the manufactured dimension, e.g., cast diameter, which are investigated by the Charpy impact test and tensile impact test. It is generally accepted that the impact strength and tensile-impact strength correlate with the degree of crystallinity beside many other material's feature. Crystallinity is evaluated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between toughness and crystallinity of the magnesium-catalyzed cast PA6 rods with different diameters. For the research cast rods between 40 and 300 mm diameter were selected in seven-dimensional steps. Based on the results, it was found that the toughness depends strongly on the diameter size. Furthermore, it is proved that the crystallinity explains 62.3% of the variation of the Charpy's impact strengths, while the tensile impact method was not suitable to detect the difference between the test samples.