Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) filled with electrospun nylon fibres: A model for a facile composite fabrication

Electrospun fibres are very rarely used as reinforcing agents in polymer-based composites. A fabrication approach is presented that allows to easily prepare composites based on polycaprolactone (PCL) filled with nylon 6 electrospun fibres by compression moulding. At very low filler contents (3%), the obtained composites exhibited improved stiffness with a simultaneous increase in ductility, differently from what is usually found in PCL nanocomposites with a variety of fillers, in which increases in modulus happen at the expense of elongation at break. The presence of fibres with a very small diameter, typical of the products of electrospinning, favoured a good interfacial adhesion between matrix and filler. Being of a similar order of magnitude than polymer lamellae, electrospun fibres can be used to shape the morphology of lamellar stacks, and therefore the final properties of the composites. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.