COMPOSITES OF ANIONIC (CO) POLYAMIDES (NYLON-6/NYLON-12) WITH SHORT GLASS E-FIBERS - PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES

The recent high demand of thermoplastic composites has induced an extensive experimentation and utilization of polyamides as thermoplastic sheet composites. The hand layup technique was used for the preparation of the glass fiber polyamide composites studied here. The percentage crystallinity of the composites was determined with a variety of techniques such as differential thermal analysis (DTA), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns, and density measurements. Glass transitions (T(g)) and melting temperatures (T(m)) were determined with DTA and dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMTA) measurements. Finally, the mechanical properties (stress-strain curves and compression tests) were investigated and the results were correlated to the glass fiber content, the void content, and the percentage of the comonomer unit (caprolactam and laurolactam) in the polyamide composite. (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.