Monitoring of nylon 6,6/carbon fiber composites processing by X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis

This work reports a study made to obtain carbon fiber/nylon 6,6 prepreg composites by hot-compression molding. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and crystallinity degree determination were carried out to monitor the nylon 6,6 behavior during the different steps of the composite processing. The homogeneity of the carbon fiber/polymer matrix distribution was verified using microscopic analyses and the fiber content was determined by the acid-digestion method. The results show that the processing parameters employed were adequate, allowing the manufacture of laminates with good texture and an adequate reinforcement/matrix relation (60/40). However, improvements need be done to minimize the pullout effect observed in the tensile specimens. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.