Yield and fatigue behavior of polypropylene and polyamide-6 nanocomposites

In this paper, yield and fatigue behavior of a polypropylene nanocomposite and a polyamide-6 nanocomposite has been studied. The Eyring equation was used to model the temperature and strain rate sensitivity of the yield strengths of these two nanocomposites. Both activation volume and activation energy of the polypropylene nanocomposite were higher than those of the polyamide-6 nanocomposite. The fatigue strength of the polyamide-6 nanocomposite was higher than that of the polypropylene nanocomposite. However, the ratio of maximum fatigue stress to yield strength of the polypropylene nanocomposite was higher than that of the polyamide nanocomposite. The fatigue failure in both composites was initiated at agglomerated nanoparticles. (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.