(657f) Comparative Study On Effect of Commercial and Nano CaSO4 On Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polyamide 6- CaSO4 Nanocomposite

In the present work, polyamide/ CaSO4 nanocomposites were prepared via melt intercalation on twin-screw extruder. Different particle sizes (23, 15, 10 nm) of CaSO4 were synthesized by in-situ deposition technique and its sizes were confirmed on X-ray difractometer. Nano CaSO4 was added from 1 to 4 wt % in the polyamide. Properties such as tensile strength, elongation at break, Young's modulus, and hardness were studied. These results were then compared with commercial CaSO4 filled polyamide composites. There was propounding effect to be observed on properties of polyamide nanocomposites due to uniform dispersion of nano CaSO4 and commercial CaSO4. 4 wt % of 10 nm CaSO4 shows 16 % improvement in tensile strength compared to commercial CaSO4 (11 %) filled in polyamide composites. Whereas, elongation at break decreases drastically in 10 nm CaSO4 filled polyamide nanocomposites up to 22 % compared to commercial CaSO4 filled polyamide composites at 4 wt % loading (11 %). Among these properties, Young's modulus was found to be more effective in 4 wt % loading of 10 nm CaSO4 and was recorded to be 66 % more compared to commercial CaSO4 filled in polyamide composites (22 %). Moreover, thermal property like, thermal degradation and flammability was studied on TGA and flame tester. It was found that nano CaSO4 was thermally more stable compared to that of commercial CaSO4 filled polyamide composites. Extent of dispersion of nano CaSO4 was studied along with micro cracks generated during tensile testing using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Besides that, the shape and sizes of nano CaSO4 was confirmed on transmission electron microscope (TEM). TEM study showed that nano CaSO4 is having needle like or fiber like structure.