Nanocomposites of polyamide 6 with organoclay were prepared by melt intercalation and their rheological and mechanical properties were studied. The clay was treated with the quaternary ammonium salt (Cetremide) and characterized by Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed the incorporation of salt in the clay and its organophilization. A master was prepared with PA6/clay (1:1) by weight and this was added to the pure polyamide 6 to reach the nominal proportion of 3% of clay, using a corrotacional twin screw extruder. The samples were molded by injection and characterized by: capillary rheometry, XRD, TEM and mechanical testing (tensile and impact). The results of capillary rheometry showed that the presence of organoclay in the PA6 increased the viscosity of the systems. With XRD and TEM, it was verified that all systems presented predominantly exfoliated structure. The tensile properties of the nanocomposites were better than those of pure polyamide 6.
Nanocomposites; polyamide 6; organoclay
