Abstract
The hygrothermal and mechanical characterization of continuous fiber-reinforced nanocomposites in compression molded E-Glass fiber-reinforced in polyamide-6 or nylon-6 matrix with and without different weight addition of nanoclay have been performed. E-Glass/Nylon-6 nanocomposite was characterized by means of X-Ray Diffraction to determine the nanoclay dispersion morphology. Significant improvement were achieved in compressive strength, shear strength and barrier properties with relatively low nanoclay loadings. The baseline and nanoclay modified E-Glass/Nylon-6 specimens were immersed in de-ionized water at 50 °C and aged hygrothermally. Mechanical tests on unaged E-Glass/Nylon-6 nanocomposite confirmed strength enhancement with nanoclay addition, with a significant improvement in compressive strength (50% at 4 wt.% nanoclay loading) and shear strength (~36% at 4 wt.% nanoclay loading). Mechanical tests on hygrothermally aged E-Glass/Nylon-6 modified with 4 wt.% nanoclay loading showed that hydrothermal degradation is drastically reduced with a significant reduction (~30%) in moisture uptake compared to baseline E-Glass/Nylon-6 composites. An analytical model is developed to capture the diffusion mechanism and attribute the change in diffusivity and moisture uptake with weight addition of nanoclay to tortuosity and reduction in free volume created by the presence of nanoclay. The loss in change in free volume computed using Atomic Force Microscopy images is compared with analytical model.