Morphological, physical and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline cellulose filled Nylon 6 foams

Abstract

Nanocomposite foams based on Nylon 6 and nanocrystalline cellulose were prepared via extrusion and injection molding to study the effect of nanocrystalline cellulose concentration (0 to 5%), chemical foaming agent content (0, 1%, and 2%), and mold temperature (30℃ and 80℃) on the morphological, physical, and mechanical properties of the samples. Nanocrystalline cellulose content, especially between 1 and 3 wt%, was very effective in reducing the cell size and increasing the cell density of the foam structure. Nanocrystalline cellulose addition (0–5%) was found to increase density (4% for composites and 20% for foams), tensile strength (10% for composite and 13% for foams), tensile modulus (20% for composites and 34% for foams), and flexural modulus (37% for composites and 29% for foams), but decreased the impact strength (35–40% for composites and 20–40% for foams). Foaming agent addition (1%) was able to improve the specific tensile (10%) and flexural (12%) moduli, tensile strength (14%), elongation at break (6%), and impact strength (27%). Finally, higher mold temperature decreased skin thickness and, consequently, decreased the mechanical properties, mostly tensile strength of the foam samples (1% for composites and 18% for foams).