Fracture behavior, microstructure, and mechanical properties of PA6 / NBR nanocomposites

Abstract Polyamide 6/Acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/Perlite nanocomposites with different percentages of NBR phase and perlite nanoparticle were prepared using the melt mixing process. The fracture behavior of PA6/NBR/Perlite nanocomposites was studied by the essential work of fracture method (EWF). Furthermore, response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to evaluate the effect of input variables, namely NBR and perlite content, on fracture behavior and Young's modulus of these nanocomposites. Scanning electron microscopy was used as a method for studying the morphology of the thermoplastic elastomer matrix containing different percentages of NBR elastomer and perlite nanoparticles. The results confirmed that, with controlling input variables, the optimum conditions of the system could be obtained, which leads to an improvement in fracture behavior and modulus strength of PA6/NBR/Perlite nanocomposites. RSM results illustrated that Young's modulus is increased from 2539 to 2862 MPa with an increase in perlite content from 3 to 7 wt%, when NBR content is 20 wt%. Moreover, Elongation at break is increased from 59.8% for 20 wt% NBR elastomer up to 102.8% for 40 wt%. The results of the EWF test illustrated that the samples with 30 and 10 wt%. NBR and 5 wt% perlite, have the maximum values of essential work of fracture (283.8 N/mm) and nonessential work of fracture (22.2 N/mm ² ), respectively.