ε-Caprolactam polymerization in presence of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS)

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) have been covalently linked to polyamide 6 (PA6) chains with the aim of synthesizing hybrid organic/inorganic polymer materials. The synthesis has been achieved by in situ polymerization of epsilon-caprolactam (CL) in presence of increasing amounts of POSS molecules, Using two polymerization mechanisms (hydrolytic and anionic). The latter method has been carried out by three different approaches, in order to get PA6 samples characterized by various morphologies and content of structural defects: (i) quasi-adiabatic bulk polymerization (ii) isothermal bulk polymerization; (iii) quasi-isothermal suspension polymerization. The products obtained have been characterized in term of structure, morphology, thermal properties and molecular mass. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.