Melting behavior under high pressure of nylon 6, nylon 6-clay hybrid (NCH)
and poly(butylene terephthalate) was investigated by high-pressure differen
tial thermal analysis (DTA). It was found that the melting temperature and
the pressure dependency of the melting temperature of NCH were low compared
with those of nylon 6. Using the melting temperature, the pressure depende
ncy of the melting temperature, and the heat of fusion (the enthalpy of fus
ion), the Clausius-Clapeyron equation was used to determine the volume chan
ges on melting of the polymers at atmospheric pressure DeltaV(m0)(DTA). Del
taV(m0)(DTA) of NCH was lower than that of the nylon 6 alpha -form. The sma
ller DeltaV(m0)(DTA) of NCH was attributed to the presence of nylon 6 gamma
-form in NCH. The values of DeltaV(m0)(DTA) for nylon 6 and poly(butylene
terephthalate) were similar to those obtained from pressure-volume-temperat
ure relationships DeltaV(m0)(PVT) of those polymers. The entropies of fusio
n were constant and independent of pressures up to 100 MPa. The volume chan
ges on melting (DeltaV(m) in cm(3)/K) under high pressure can be approximat
ely described by the following equation: DeltaV(m) = 0.165T(m)V(w) (dT(m)/d
P)/ (dT(m0)/dP)/298, where T-m and T-m0 are the melting temperatures (in K)
under high pressure and atmospheric pressure, respectively and V-w is the
van der Waals volume of the polymer (cm(3)/g). (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.