Synthesis and characterization of the microcellular injection molded PA6/flax and the PA6/graphene nanocomposites

Abstract

Abstract Polymer composites combine two materials together to produce a unique property which is not inherent to the individual materials. The most important reason to use composites is the enhancement of the mechanical properties. However, there are several applications that can be used by composites, such as the heavy metal adsorption of waste water by flax. This study has investigated the effects of flax (1, 3, 5 wt%) and graphene loading (0.5, 1, 3 wt%) on the tensile strength, thermal, and heavy metal adsorption properties of the microcellular injection molded PA6 composites. The fillers used, flax and graphene, were micro and nano materials in size, respectively. The results showed that the dispersion with 0.5 wt% of graphene loading, as seen in the TEM pictures, had the best dispersion for the PA6/graphene nanocomposites. This amount of graphene also had the best tensile strength in three different loadings (0.5, 1.0, 3.0 wt%). Tensile strength was related to the filler dispersion in the matrix. Good dispersion resulted in good tensile strength, and the elongation decreased by increasing the flax loading. The 5 wt% flax loading and 3 wt% graphene loading of the composites showed the largest storage modulus for the PA6composites. The 1 wt% of the flax loading showed the highest degradation temperature for the PA6/flax micro-composites, and the 3 wt% for the PA6/graphene nanocomposites. The cell size decreased and the cell density increased with the addition of graphene to the PA6 composites. Heavy metal of the Cr(IV)adsorption test showed that the PA6/GP nanocomposites had a better adsorption than that of the PA6/flax composites.