Elastic recovery of polyamide 6 matrix nanocomposites and their basalt fiber co-reinforced hybrids

Abstract

Abstract:The improved elastic recovery and a wider range of linear elastic behavior of multiscale hybrid polyamide 6 composites are demonstrated in this study. For the composites, basalt fiber (BF) was used as microsized, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes and surface-treated montmorillonite (MMT) as nanosized reinforcement. The materials were melt compounded, and then specimens were injection molded. To prove increased elastic behavior, a relatively simple and fast cyclic measurement method was applied, where the load was increased in each cycle and 30 s of relaxation time was allowed after unloading. The results showed that both micro- and nanoparticles can broaden the range of the elastic behavior of the polyamide 6 significantly, which is reflected in increased elastic recovery and decreased plastic deformation compliance. Nano- and microsized reinforcing materials also produce a synergistic effect, which can be explained with the physical cross-linking of the nanoparticles.