PERFORMANCE OF POTASSIUM TITANATE WHISKER-REINFORCED POLYAMIDE-6 COMPOSITES

Composites of polyamide-6 reinforced with potassium titanate whiskers were prepared in a twin-screw extruder, followed by injection moulding . The whiskers were surface treated with tetrabutyl orthotitanate prio r to blending. The tensile, impact, morphology and thermal properties of the injection moulded composites were investigated. Static tensile measurements showed that the tensile strength and modulus of the compo sites increased with increasing whiskers content. However, Izod impact tests indicated that the composites showed a decrease in the impact s trength initially with whiskers content up to 25 wt%; thereafter they showed a slight increase when the whiskers content reached 35 wt%. Sca nning electron microscopic observations revealed that the whiskers wit hin the composites were oriented uniformly along the melt flow directi on. Finally, thermogravimetric analysis showed that the heat resistanc e of the composites tended to increase with increasing whiskers conten t. The results were analysed and discussed in terms of established mod els of the behaviour of short-fibre reinforced composites. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.