Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Title

Effect of LCP Inclusion on Processability and Thermal Stability of Glass Fiber-reinforced Hybrid Composites

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

7-2003

Abstract

A series of studies were conducted to investigate the effect of LCP inclusion on the processability of short glassfiber reinforced toughened nylon 6,6. The objective was to identify the role of each component phase and obtaincomposite synergism arising from a multi-component system. It was found that a hybrid composite offeredsuperior processability over the glass fiber reinforced polymers alone. The total torque in melt mixing increasedwith short glass fiber addition but decreased with an increase in LCP content. Cryofractured extrudates wereexamined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Improved processability of hybrid composites wasascribed to the orientation of LCP domains in the direction of flow. Hybridization also introduced new thermal-morphological interactions among component phases. The thermal and crystallization behaviors were studied bydifferential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), SEM, and wide angle X-rayscattering (WAXS). DMA results indicated that the maximum miscibility between the blended components wasin the 5 wt% LCP composition and the miscibility decreased with increasing LCP content. The possible role ofelastomer acting as a compatibilizer was critically assessed. . LCP hybridization increased the interplanarspacing of the hydrogen-bonded sheets of the nylon crystals rather than the spacing between the hydrogen bonded chains making the sheets more mobile than the chains.

Publication Title

19th Annual Meeting of the Polymer Processing Society

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