Polypyrrole-Nylon 6 composite

Highly transparent and conducting polypyrrole/ Nylon 6 composite films have been prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization, by immersing Nylon 6 films containing pyrrole into an aqueous FeCl3 solution [311]. Conductivities of 2.3 x 10 S cm were obtained as well as good mechanical properties. An increase in Young s modulus of the composite with polymerization time was observed, due... 

An alternative to in situ polymerization involves direct intercalation of macromolecules into layered structures. Silicates are most often used. The insertion of polymer molecules into layered host lattices is of interest from different points of view. First, this insertion process leads to the construction of organic-inorganic polylayered composites. Second, the intercalation physical chemistry by itself and the role intercalation plays in the gain of electronic conductivity are of interest. This becomes important in the construction of reversible electrodes " or when improving the physicomechanical properties of nylon-layered silicate nanocomposites, hybrid epoxide clay composites," and nanomaterials based on hectorite and polyaniline, polythiophene or polypyrrole. ... 

The major difficulties involved in making electrically conductive thermoplastic blends using polyaniline, polypyrrole, or their composites, are two-fold. The first is the thermal instability of doped polyaniline and polypyrrole at melt processing temperatures (1-3), The second is the chemical incompatibility of acidic conductive polyaniline with acid sensitive polymers such as the nylons. Conductive polyaniline is quite acidic and the adjustment of its acidity to neutral pH values eliminates its high conductivity (4,5). The authors present here thermal aging studies of conductivity and thermal gravimetric analysis - mass spectroscopy (TGA-MS) of Eeonomers which show pH independence of conductivity in acidic to neutral environments. The tunable surface properties of Eeonomer composites allows one to optimize the processibility as well as the electrical and mechanical properties of their blends with various thermoplastics. 

The properties of some thermoplastic compounds that were prepared with Eeonomer additives are given in Table I. Also, listed as a control for comparison is a nylon-6 compound with uncoated carbon black. The mechanical properties of the Eeonomer - nylon compounds are observed to be similar or better than the control. Note that in the nylon-6 case, the polypyrrole - Eeonomer compound offers improved mechanical properties over the polyaniline composite while still retaining the same conductivity level. 

SW Byun, SS Im. Transparent and conducting nylon 6-based composite films prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization. Synth Met 1993 55-57 3501-3506. S Radhakrishnan, AB Mandate. Polypyrrole growth on crystalline PEG complexes characterization by WAXD and XPS. Synth Met 1994 62 217-221. 

Other recent applications of ToF-SIMS without XPS include the examination of PS [6, 17-19], polyethylene (PE) [20], carbon fibre reinforced epoxy resins [21], polyalkyl methacrylates [22], alkylketene dimers [23], perfluorinated polymers [24], perflnorinated ethers [25], polyethylene glycol (PEG) oligomers [15, 25-29], rubber [30], ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer [30], Nylon-6 [31], PC [32,33], PDMS [34], polypyrrole coated PS [35], poly-p-phenylene vinylene [36], butyl rubber [37], poly(4-vinyl phenol)/poly(4-vinyl pyridine blends) [38], polypyrrole-silica gel composites [39], y-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxy silane [40], triblock copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)- 3 poly(phenylene ethylene)- 3 poly(ethylene glycol) [41], ethylene-terephthalate-hydroxybenzoate copolymer [42], PS-polyvinyl methyl ether, polycarbonate - PS blends [43] and PDMS-urethane [44],... 

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