Structure-property relationship of injection-molded carbon fibre-reinforced polyamide 6,6 composites: the effect of compounding routes

Extrusion and pultrusion techniques were employed in the melt compounding of discontinuous and continuous carbon fibre-reinforced polyamide 6,6 composite feed stocks for injection molding, producing short-fibre composites and long-fibre composites respectively. These composites were then injection molded, followed by tensile testing and fibre length distribution characterization. It was found that pultrusion-compounded composites show improved tensile strength and tensile modulus despite the reduction in their fracture strain. The improvement in tensile properties is also accompanied by superiority in fibre length characteristics. Number average fibre length and weight average fibre length supports this behavior. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.