Thermal and thermo-mechanical studies on seashell incorporated Nylon-6 polymer composites

Abstract

Towards environmental sustainability, recycling and effective usage of sea wastes are encouraged to develop novel materials in engineering applications by sustainable waste management. In this research, impact of seashell (SS) particles (75 μm) of varying weight fractions (0, 3, 6, 9, 12,15 and 18%) reinforced in nylon-6 matrix is investigated experimentally by studying its thermal properties viz., vicat softening temperature (VST), heat deflection temperature (HDT), coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CLTE), and melt flow index (MFI) and thermo-mechanical properties by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) according to ASTM guidelines. The polymer matrix composite (PMC) is prepared by blending the pellets of nylon-6 and seashell particles with the help of twin-screw extruder and fabricated into the required shape and size in an injection moulding machine. Outcomes of the experimental investigation show that CLTE decreases with increase in SS content, whereas VST and HDT deflection temperature increases along with the weight % of SSs due to the reduction in plasticity of the thermoplastic until 15% addition. This makes it more resistance to load and deflection along with heat resistivity whereas MFI decreases with addition of SSs in nylon-6 matrix. From DMA analysis it is observed that with inclusion of SSs the glass transition temperature tends to increase along with loss and storage modulus. Thermal and thermo-mechanical features tend to improve until 15% addition of SS in nylon-6 matrix. With further addition, the properties tend to be lowered because of poor adhesion of SSs with Nylon-6.