Nailed-bat like halloysite nanotube filled polyamide 6,6 nanofibers by electrospinning

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study focuses on fabrication and characterization of halloysite nanotube (HNT) filled polyamide 6,6 nanocomposite fibers. HNTs were incorporated into the spinning solution at various concentration levels changing from 5 to 30 wt%. To understand the changes in the fiber morphology, viscosity, and conductivity of the electrospining solutions were also investigated. Depending on the filler ratio, increase in the solution viscosity was around 5–19%. However the change in solution conductivity was not significant and around 0.22–2.5 %. In addition to solution properties, morphology, structure, thermal and mechanical properties of the electrospun nanocomposite fibers were characterized. Morphological analysis showed the highly porous nanofibrous mat structure for all samples. HNT filled samples showed higher average fiber diameter than PA 6,6 fibers with the values around 105–162 nm. One significant outcome of the study was to obtain nano nailed-bat like morphology. During the electrospinning some of the halloysite nanotubes protruded from the fiber axis and formed nano nailed-bat like morphology. HNT/PA 6,6 nanofibers showed better thermal stability. T10% values moved around 5–30 °C and char yield increased to 9–27% based on the filler ratio. On the other hand, the tensile strength of the HNT/PA 6,6 nanofibers decreased around 32–42%.