Fire reaction of nanoclay-doped PA6 composites reinforced with continuous glass fibers and produced by commingling technique

In this paper, we report the development of a glass fiber commingled composite (GFCC) based on a nanoclay-doped polyamide 6 (PA6) and the evaluation of its fire reaction. The preparation of the composite comprised several steps. Firstly, the nanoclay was dispersed in the PA6 matrix. Then, the produced compound was spun in filaments and commingled with continuous glass fibers. Finally, the laminate preform was consolidated. Reference samples based on the neat PA6 were produced as well. As a results, although it is well known that, in the presence of a relevant amount of continuous fibers, the behavior of the material is mainly driven by the fibers themselves (e.g. mechanical, thermal, conductive, and so on), the effect of the clay was interesting, especially in flammability test (UL94 vertical burning test), where the total burning time passes from 227 s to 146 s.