Effect of ABS on non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of polyamide 6

Abstract

The investigations on the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of polyamide 6 (PA6) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) blend have been conducted by differential scanning calorimeter. The growth of spherulites, in this blend system, is observed by polarized optical microscopy. The crystallinity and size of crystallites of the samples were measured using X-ray diffractometer. The Avrami, Ozawa and combined Avrami–Ozawa equations have been applied to determine the crystallization kinetics and parameters of crystallization. The effective activation energy $$\left( {\Delta E_{\rm X} } \right)$$ as a function of relative degree of crystallinity is determined using the Friedman equation. The value of $$\Delta E_{\rm X}$$ is found to vary with the relative degree of crystallinity, as well as with the amount of ABS in the blend. All these parameters obtained from different methods show the rate of crystallization is more in PA6 90 than PA6 100. The addition of ABS greater than 10% in the blend decreases the crystallization rate parameters.