Morphological and orientation studies of injection moulded nylon-6,6/Kevlar composites

Abstract

In this work, nylon-6,6/Kevlar short fibre composites have been processed by injection moulding. Their microstructure, and fibre and matrix orientation, measured by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), have been studied as a function of two major processing variables, i.e. the injection speed and the mould temperature. At low mould temperatures, skin, underskin and core structures have been observed, while at high mould temperatures only skin and core structures were found. Fibre orientation patterns exhibit both a processing and a geometrical dependence. Matrix orientation patterns are different from those of the pure polymer moulded material and are mainly influenced by the fibre orientations, which are themselves affected by the processing conditions.