Preparation and nonisothermal crystallization behavior of polyamide 6/montmorillonite nanocomposites

Polyamide 6 (PA6)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites were prepared via melt intercalation. The structure, mechanical properties, and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PA6/MMT nanocomposites were investigated by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), tensile and impact tests, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Before melt compounding, MMT was treated with an organic surfactant agent. XRD traces showed that PA6 crystallizes exclusively in γ‐crystalline structure within the nanocomposites. Tensile measurements showed that the MMT additions are beneficial in improving the strength and the stiffness of PA6, at the expense of tensile ductility. Impact tests revealed that the impact strength of PA6/MMT nanocomposites tended to decrease with increasing MMT content. The nonisothermal crystallization DSC data were analyzed by Avrami, Ozawa, modified Avrami‐Ozawa, and Nedkov methods. The validity of these empirical equations on the nonisothermal crystallization process of PA6/MMT nanocomposites is discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 2878–2891, 2004