Modification of nylon‐6 with semirigid poly(p‐diphenylmethyl terephthalamide)

Abstract

AbstractIn this research, flexible nylon‐6 was reinforced by semirigid aromatic polyamide poly(p‐diphenylmethyl terephthalamide) (PMA) through physical polyblending and chemical copolymerization using p‐aminophenylacetic acid (P‐APA) as a coupling agent. From the DSC measurement, it was shown that the Tg of the polyblends was increased with the increase of PMA content. It was discovered that the Tg and Tm of multiblock copolyamides would be higher than those of polyblends and triblock copolyamides. The multiblock copolyamides exhibited a homogeneous texture rather than an aggregated one. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the polyblends were a dispersed‐phase structure. We found that from the wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction pattern the triblock copolyamides and polyblends had two diffraction peaks, i.e., 2θ = 20° and 24°. However, the multiblock had only one at 2θ = 20°, which evidently indicates that a new crystal structure of multiblock copolyamides was formed. As for the mechanical properties, the multiblock copolyamides were found to have more significant reinforcing effects than those of polyblends and triblock copolyamides. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.