Characterisation of Polyamide (PA)12 Nanocomposites with Montmorillonite (MMT) Filler Clay Used for the Incremental Forming of Sheets

Abstract

In this paper, the preparation and characterisation of polymer materials suitable for single point incremental forming (SPIF) technology were performed. Three different kinds of mixtures were selected: a mixture of neat polyamide 12 (PA12), a nanocomposite with PA12 matrix and 1% clay (Cloisite 93A), and a nanocomposite with PA12 matrix and 3% clay (Cloisite 93A). Materials were produced using a melt intercalation method followed by compression moulding. According to the needs of SPIF technology, morphological and mechanical properties were investigated in the obtained mixtures. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize morphological properties. It was determined that the most desired obtained exfoliated structure of clay in the polymer matrix was achieved. Static tensile testing and dynamic mechanical analysis as well as the determination of glass transition temperature and crystallinity of all analysed materials were used to obtain mechanical and thermal properties of the mixtures. The results obtained for each mixture were compared with respect to the content of clay. The content of clay (Cloisite 93A) showed a strong influence on the properties of the obtained materials. The presence of clay (Cloisite 93A) affected the increase of tensile strength and Young’s modulus, while its influence on the attained elongation was not unique.

Post-Forming Mechanical Properties of a Polymer Sheet Processed by Incremental Sheet Forming: Insights into Effects of Plastic Strain, and Orientation and Size of Specimen

“…Further, the CNTs proportion inversely affects the voids density. Boric et al [ 24 ] introduced the idea of plasticization of polymers by adding foreign particles. They added clay Cloisite 93A in the polyamide and concluded that its addition from 1% to 3% increases the elongation from 44% to 49%, which in turn enhances the ISF formability.…”

Tribological Performance of Nylon Composites with Nanoadditives for Self-Lubrication Purposes

“…Since the wear mechanism for polymers is mainly adhesive, and the wear is caused by frictional heat between the two contact surfaces, PA46 is capable of reducing damage thanks to the higher melting temperature and a less adhesive wear, due to a lower plastic deformation and a lower increase in contact area. On the other hand, both matrices, PA46 and PA12, have a higher crystallinity, near 70%, which keeps Young’s modulus very high (3300 MPa for P46 [ 53 ] and 1700 MPa for PA12 [ 54 ]), even up to temperatures near their melting point, avoiding higher levels of plastic deformation [ 64 ] and thus reducing the wear. In the case of the PA66 matrix, a more severe wear is achieved corresponding to the generation of higher temperatures on the sample surfaces due to the increased frictional heating.…”

Incremental sheet forming of thermoplastics: a review

“…As the early researches about ISF technology are mainly focused on metallic materials, there is an increased interest of transferring the research focus from metallic materials in ISF to thermoplastics, polymer foams [44], bilayer polymeric sheets [45,46] and also polymer-based composite materials, which are considered a kind of hard-to-form material [47][48][49][50][51][52][53].…”