Study of thermal and mechanical behavior by analyzing reinforcement effect of graphene nanoplatelets on polyamide-66 composite system developed via melt-mixing technique

In the present study, graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) reinforced polyamide 6,6 (PA-66) composite was studied to investigate the thermal and mechanical properties of PA-66/GNP composite. The composites were developed by varying wt% (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%) of GNP loading using a co-rotating, intermeshing, twin-screw extruder via melt-mixing and injection molding process. In order to understand the thermal and mechanical behavior of PA-66/GNP composite, various thermal (TGA and DSC) and mechanical (tensile, impact, and flexural) tests were carried out. The FTIR spectral analysis was done to identify the presence of different functional groups in the PA-66/GNP composite, indicating the strong enough Vander-Waals interaction between the PA-66 matrix and GNP filler contents. The TGA result shows a significant enhancement in the thermal stability of the composite by increasing wt% of GNP. The DSC analysis exhibits a significant reduction in enthalpy of fusion ( increment Hm) and a decrease in the degree of crystallinity with increasing wt% of GNP, reflecting a depressed form of alpha-crystalline structure. Further, the significant growth in tensile modulus and tensile strength were identified under the mechanical performance of the PA-66/GNP composite. An increasing trend in tensile modulus and tensile strength characteristics was observed, and tensile modulus exhibited an enhancement of similar to 96% than pure PA-66 at 10 wt% of GNP. Also, the tensile strength is found to be similar to 16% higher than that of pure PA-66 matrix. Similarly, the impact test result shows a decreasing trend in impact strength on increasing wt% of GNP reinforcements, indicating the restriction to the molecular mobility due to improved brittle behavior. Further, the flexural modulus is found to be increased by similar to 28% at 10 wt%, and the flexural strength is found to have an enhancement of similar to 9% at 3 wt% than pure PA-66 polymer matrix of GNP loadings, respectively. The influence of GNP filler content reinforced PA-66 composite on the thermal and mechanical properties is found to be noteworthy.