High Performance PA 6/Cellulose Nanocomposites in the Interest of Industrial Scale Melt Processing

On an industrial scale, it is a challenge to achieve cellulose based nanocomposites due to dispersion issues and high process temperatures sensitivity. The current study describes methods to develop mechanically strong and thermally stable polyamide 6 (PA 6) and cellulose nanofibers (CNF) composites capable of tolerating high processing temperatures. With PA 6 being a very technical polymer matrix to be reinforced with CNF, good dispersion can be achieved with a high speed kinetic mixer and also shield the CNF from excess thermal degradation by implementing extremely short processing time. This paper presents an industrially feasible method to produce PA 6/CNF nanocomposites with high CNF composition processed by a high speed kinetic mixer (GELIMAT^®) followed by compression molding to obtain a homogenous and thermally stable nanocomposites aimed at high performance applications. PA 6 was reinforced with three different wt % formulations (5, 15 and 25 wt %) of cellulose nanofibers. The resulting nanocomposites exhibited significant increase in Young's modulus and ultimate strength with CNF content, owing to the effective melt processing and the surface charge density of the CNF, which necessitated the dispersion. The thermal stability and polymer crystallinity with respect to CNF composition for the PA 6/CNF nanocomposites were examined by TGA and DSC analysis. Rheology studies indicated that viscosity of the composites increased with increase in CNF composition. Overall, this work demonstrates industrially viable manufacturing processes to fabricate high performance PA 6/CNF nanocomposites.