A Study of Processing-Structure-Property Correlations in Novel Inorganic Phosphate Glass/Polyamide 66 Hybrid Materials with Enhanced Benefits

A new class of inorganic glass/organic polymer hybrid materials has been developed recently by using ultra low Tg tin fluorophosphate glass (Pglass) to combine the advantages of classical polymer blends and composite materials without their disadvantages. One of the important advantages using Pglass is that desirable morphology and properties can be tailored because Pglass becomes liquid under processing conditions of the most plastic materials. Recent study found that polar thermoplastic polymers seem to have a good interaction with the Pglass. In this study, the Pglass was introduced into a commodity thermoplastic polymer matrix, polyamide 66 (PA66), using a conventional melt-mixing process. Torque reduction and suppression of shear-induced heating were observed during the mixing process. The obtained Pglass/PA66 hybrid materials were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), tensile tests, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The melting and crystallization behavior of the hybrids is largely influenced by Pglass due to the interaction between both components. The addition of Pglass decreases the melting and crystallization temperatures and percent crystallinity of PA66. A single glass transition is detected at low Pglass concentrations. Mechanical properties were enhanced by the Pglass due to the active interaction between Pglass and PA66. TGA results reveal that the thermal stability ofPA66 at high temperatures was sufficiently improved by increasing Pglass content and that the rate of degradation was retarded even though hybrid materials start degrading earlier than the neat PA66. A well disperse and distribution of micrometer size Pglass droplets in PA66 matrix were observed from SEM micrographs