Effects of mixing temperatures on the morphology and toughness of epoxy/polyamide blends

Abstract

A new mixing process was explored to increase further the fracture toughness and to investigate the toughening mechanisms of epoxy/nylon blend. In this process, without mechanical mixing, the mixtures of epoxy and premade nylon 6 powder were heated without the curing agent to specific temperatures, referred to as the "mixing temperature." For epoxy/nylon blends, at sufficiently high temperatures, a semi-interpenetrating network-like structure can be developed at the interphase via the reaction between the amine end group and the epoxide group. The depth of interphase and the extent of reaction depends on the mixing temperature. The strong dependency of the fracture energy on mixing temperature reveals the positive effect of the newly developed structure at the interphase. The increase of fracture toughness is possibly due to the enhanced crack fingering bifurcation/deflection mechanism resulting from the lamellae developed in the interphase and the enhanced plastic deformation of epoxy as a result of preyielding of the interphase. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.