Deformation mechanism and fibre toughening of nylon 6,6

The effects of glass-fibre reinforcement on the fracture toughness, K IC, of nylon 6,6 were examined and the deformation mechanisms of unreinforced nylon 6,6 were studied by varying the deformation rate, by dilatational measurements and by i.r. spectroscopy. In the unreinforced nylon 6,6 a flow stress plateau was observed in the stress-strain behaviour prior to the onset of necking. Of the 25–30% inelastic strains stored in this plateau a substantial portion appears to be related to a crystallographic plastic deformation due to the crystalline segments in nylon 6,6. In glass-fibre-reinforced nylon 6,6 a brittle to ductile transition was found to occur when the mean fibre-end spacing was less than a critical value. The observed brittle-ductile transition was found to originate from an observed enhanced matrix plasticity at fibre ends when the glass fibres are sufficiently closely spaced. Such enhanced localized plasticity at fibre ends was suggested to result from interactions of stress fields with nearby fibre ends when the fibre-end spacing is less than the critical value. It is further postulated that the enhanced localized fibre-end plasticity is made possible due to the ability of the matrix to exhibit a large degree of crystallographic plasticity. The toughening behaviour of fibre-reinforced nylon 6,6 was also compared qualitatively to that of rubber-toughened nylon 6,6 and a general principle for microstructural toughening in nylon 6,6 was addressed. Strategies for fibre toughening in fibre-reinforced nylon 6,6 were also discussed.