Polyamide 6 filled with melamine cyanurate and layered silicates: Evaluation of flame retardancy and physical properties

The efficiency of melamine cyanurate and a clay filler for improving the flame retardancy and other physical properties of polyamide 6 was examined. Partially intercalate d-exfoliated morphologies were obtained. Nanocomposites suffered from polymer degradation during compounding, while the molecular weight was enhanced in the case of the flame retarded samples. Silicates were shown to restrain crystallization, whereas melamine cyanurate induced heterogeneous nucleation. Both additives positively influenced the tensile modulus of the prepared samples, decreasing their ability to elongate. With respect to the UL94 flammability test, melamine cyanurate was proved to be not sufficiently capable of increasing the tendency of nanocomposites to drip, negatively affecting flammability.