Rheological study of PA6/ATP nanocomposites

In this work, polyamide 6 (PA6)/attapulgite (ATP) nanocomposites with different ATP contents were prepared using a co-rotational twin-screw extruder. The ATP was previously purified by sedimentation followed by acid activation. The purification was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and field-emission gun scanning electron microscopy. In relation to the PA6/ATP nanocomposites, an in-depth study of rheology (steady-state and oscillatory regimes) was carried out for a better understanding of its structures. The viscosity, storage (G') and loss (G") moduli increased monotonically with ATP content at low frequencies, which indicates that the presence of ATP caused a restriction on the chain movements, even without the formation of a percolated network structure. (author)