Transparent nylon 6 nanofibers-reinforced epoxy matrix composites with superior mechanical and thermal properties

Abstract

Electrospun nanofibers have been widely researched for their reinforcing ability in polymer composites because of their ultrafine size, high mechanical strength, and ultrahigh surface area. In this study, a vacuum infiltration technique was employed to fabricate electrospun nylon 6 nanofiber-reinforced epoxy matrix composites. It was found that the reinforcement of the epoxy matrices with nylon 6 nanofibers significantly improved the mechanical and thermal properties of the composites. The ultimate tensile strength of the N6/YD composite decreased compared to that of the reference YD epoxy resin; however, the N6/YDJR and N6/JR epoxy resin composites showed 29% and 500% improvement in the tensile strength, and Young's modulus was enhanced by 20.5%, 49%, and 1700% for the N6/YD, N6/YDJR, and N6/JR composites, respectively. Furthermore, the tensile strength and Young's modulus of the nanocomposites were predicted and validated using the theoretical Halpin–Tsai and Takayangi models, while the results of numerical simulations agreed with the experimental measurements. Finally, a thermogravimetric analysis showed that the thermal stability of the epoxy resin matrices was significantly improved after the incorporation of nylon 6 nanofibers.

Keywords

• Polymer-matrix composites
• Electrospun nanofibers
• Mechanical properties
• Thermal properties
• Analytical modelling