Polyamides—nanocomposite, nylon

The exact same process with the same equipment that was employed to produce the nylon 6 nanocomposites was employed with the amorphous polyamide. The same procedure as outlined above with the nylon 6 nanocomposites was used to characterize the amorphous polyamide nanocomposites. Cloisite 30B and the organomontmorillonite prepared with trimethyl hydrogenated tallow quat demonstrated excellent exfoliation. Cloisite 20A was not as effective in exfoliation. The mechanical performance of the montmorillonite exchanged with trimethyl hydrogenated tallow quat had the superior Young s modulus. 

This chapter wih highlight the major development of flame retardancy of polyamide/clay nanocomposites. Because nylon 6 and nylon 6.6 are the two most widely used polyamides, the content of this chapter will be based mainly on these two polyamides. Other less used polyamides such as nylon 12 and nylon 6.10 will be briefly discussed where appropriate. The different techniques used to prepare polyamids/clay nanocomposites, their thermal properties, and a possible flame retardant mechanism are also discussed. 

Polyesters provide the option of nanocomposites prepared with crystalline and amorphous continuous phases. The crystalline polymers behave in a similar way to the polyamides (nylons) as regards structure-property relationships. The amorphous polymers are a different matter. What is unexplained by first-principle arguments is the dramatic increase in percent elongation to failure [39,45,59] observed with amorphous polymer-montmorillonite composites. This phenomenon also applies to elastomers. 

Althongh nanocomposite matrix materials may be metals and ceramics, the most common matrices are polymers. For these polymer nanocomposites, a large number of thermoplastic, thermosetting, and elastomeric matrices are used, including epoxy resins, polynrethanes, polypropylene, polycarbonate, poly(ethylene terephthalate), silicone resins, poly(methyl methacrylate), polyamides (nylons), poly(vinylidene chloride), ethylene vinyl alcohol, butyl rubber, and natural rubber. 

A variety of polyamide (nylon) nanocomposites have been developed and many of diese now have practical applications. Nylon-clay nanocomposite materials containing small amounts of clay minerals exhibit high performance and robust gas barrier properties and have attracted attention worldwide from major chemical manufacturing companies in this field. There are a number of expected applications ... 

The most ideal polymer-nanoclay systems in the current literature have been the nanocomposites of nylon-6 and related polyamide matrices, because of the strong interaction between polymer and clay, and the relative... 

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