An investigation into the structure and morphology of polyamide 6/polyaniline hybrid fibers

A wet spinning dope composition for the production of hybrid fibers was selected based on the analysis of a ternary phase diagram of polyamide 6 (PA6)/formic acid/water. Polyaniline was later added to this dope with different weight percentages to produce hybrid fibers. The results showed that polyaniline was dispersed uniformly in the PA6 matrix and the spinning dope composition had a great impact on the morphology of the hybrid fibers produced with different quantities of polyaniline. The electrical conductivity of the hybrid fibers was increased with the increase in polyaniline content of the fibers and reached 7.94 x 10(-3) S.cm(-1) for the sample that contained 30% polyaniline. The crystalline structure of PA6 in all hybrid fibers was revealed to be only of a form. No other crystalline forms, for example beta form, was observed in PA6 due to the presence of polyaniline in the system as revealed from x-ray diffraction results.