Comparative Study of the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polyamide-66 Filled with Commercial and Nano-Mg(OH)(2) Particles

In the present work, polyamide-Mg(OH)(2) nanocomposites were prepared via melt intercalation on a twin-screw extruder. Different particle sizes (24, 20, 11 nm) of Mg(OH)(2) were synthesized by in-situ deposition technique and its shape and sizes was confirmed on transmission electron microscope (TEM). Nano-Mg(OH)(2) was added from 1 to 4 wt% in the polyamide. Properties such as tensile strength, elongation at break, hardness, and flame retardency were studied. These results were then compared with commercial Mg(OH)(2)-filled composites. There was propounding effect to be observed on properties of polyamide nanocomposites due to uniform dispersion of nano-Mg(OH)(2) and commercial Mg(OH)(2). Moreover, thermal property like thermal degradation was studied on TGA. Extent of dispersion of nano-Mg(OH)(2) was studied along with microcracks generated during tensile testing using AFM. It was found that nano-Mg(OH) 2 is thermally more stable compared to that of commercial Mg(OH)(2). Besides that, T-g and M.T. are studied on DSC.