Preparation and Characterization of PA6-PEG/Li High Performance Static Dissipation Composites

Abstract

A copolymer of PA6 (polyamide 6) and PEG (polyethylene glycol) was synthesized by a condensation reaction. The optimal reaction conditions were determined as the following: a reaction temperature of 255°C, –0.04 MPa vacuum, and a condensation time of 40 min. A series of novel PA6-PEG/Li composites were developed by melt blending the PA6-PEG copolymer (10 wt-% PEG) with three different kinds of colourless lithium salts (LiCl, C18H35LiO2, LiAc). FT-IR, NMR, thermogravimetric (TGA), electronic universal testing, and resistivity analyses were employed to investigate the comprehensive properties of the copolymers and composites. The results of FT-IR and 1H NMR analyses revealed that the PEG was copolymerized with PA6 successfully. TGA results indicated that the decomposition temperature of the PA6-PEG copolymer was above 350°C. Resistivity testing revealed that the surface resistivity (Rs) of the copolymer decreased from 1 × 1014 to 5.67 × 109 Ω square–1 with an increase of the content of PEG. The PA6-PEG/LiCl composite showed an excellent static dissipation performance of 2.71 × 108 Ω square–1.