Abstract
In recent years, the replacement of metal components with composites is becoming more and more common in the automotive industry. Thermoplastic composites are recyclable, which meets requirements. Impregnating the reinforcing material is difficult but caprolactam is a good choice because in melt state, it has similar viscosity to that of water. Polyamide 6 can be produced from caprolactam by ring opening in-situ polymerisation. We produced PA 6 samples from caprolactam using T-RTM. We examined the effects of the manufacturing parameters on morphology on residual monomer content and crystalline proportion. Then we filled the samples with TiO2 and examined the same parameters. Finally, we tested the effects of crystallinity, residual monomer content and the filler on moisture absorption.
Highlights
Nowadays, composites have a significant role in the manufacturing of technical components, due to their low weight and their excellent mechanical properties
Our tests showed that the decomposition temperature of caprolactam is around 200 °C, which is below the melting temperature of PA 6
We studied the effects of mould temperature, residence time and TiO2 concentration on crystalline ratio, residual monomer content and moisture absorption, and measured the effect of the crystallinity and residual monomer content of the specimen on moisture absorption
Summary
Composites have a significant role in the manufacturing of technical components, due to their low weight (because of their low density) and their excellent mechanical properties. Thermoplastic materials have high viscosity (10-100 Pas) in the melted state, they cannot properly impregnate a continuous reinforcing material This problem can be solved by caprolactam, which, in the melted state, has a viscosity (3-5 mPas) similar to that of water. Caprolactam can be used to produce polyamide 6 if combined with the appropriate initiator and activator, in a closed mould by ring opening in-situ polymerisation. These polyamides belong to the group of technically significant polymers. They have excellent mechanical properties, but their hydrophilic attribute limits their application. T-RTM (Thermoplastic Resin Transfer Moulding) is a highly efficient automated processing technology for in-situ polymerisation, whereby ring opening polymerization is carried out at low pressure with a sufficiently short cycle time in the shaping mould [1,2,3,4]
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