Study of injection molded microcellular polyamide‐6 nanocomposites

Abstract This study aims to explore the processing benefits and property improvements of combining nanocomposites with microcellular injection molding. The microcellular nanocomposite processing was performed on an injection‐molding machine equipped with a commercially available supercritical fluid (SCF) system. The molded samples produced based on the Design of Experiments (DOE) matrices were subjected to tensile testing, impact testing, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analyses. Molding conditions and nano‐clays have been found to have profound effects on the cell structures and mechanical properties of polyamide‐6 (PA‐6) base resin and nanocomposite samples. The results show that microcellular nanocomposite samples exhibit smaller cell size and uniform cell distribution as well as higher tensile strength compared to the corresponding base PA‐6 microcellular samples. Among the molding parameters studied, shot size has the most significant effect on cell size, cell density, and tensile strength. Fractographic study reveals evidence of different modes of failure and different regions of fractured structure depending on the molding conditions. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:673–686, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.