An Investigation on Non-Isothermal Crystallization Behavior and Morphology of Polyamide 6/ Poly(Ethylene-Co-1-Butene)-Graft-Maleic Anhydride/Organoclay Nanocomposites

Nanocomposites based on polyamide 6 (pa6) and poly(ethyleneco1butene)graftmaleic anhydride (ebgmah) blends have been prepared via melt mixing. the effect of blend ratio and organoclay concentration onthe crystallization and melting behavior of specimens were studied. three types of commercial organomodifiedclay (cloisite 30b, cloisite 15a and cloisite 20a) were employed to assess the importance of the nanoclay polarityand gallery distance. the crystallization behavior was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (dsc)and wide angle xray diffraction spectroscopy (waxd). the strong interactions between amine end groups of pa6and maleic anhydride groups of ebgmah led to complete inhibition of ebgmah crystallization according tothe dsc results. a transformation from the α form to the γ form crystals of pa6, induced by both organoclays andebgmah, was monitored by waxd and dsc. small angle xray scattering (saxs) was used to evaluate themorphology of nanocomposites. moreover, transmission electron microscopy (tem) was conducted to determinethe location of organoclays and indicated that the organoclays mainly present in the pa6 matrix and rarely distributein the ebgmah phase in the case of low polarity organoclays. it was also evidenced that the organoclay with themost affinity to pa6 (cloisite 30b) had the largest effect on the thermal and crystallization behavior of this phasein the blend.