Characterization of glass fibre reinforced polyamide/acrylonitrile butadiene-styrene composite for automotive application

Abstract

Polyamide-6 (PA6), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and their blends are an important class of engineering thermoplastics that are widely used especially for automotive industries. Many efforts have been taken to improve the properties of both pure components and the blends. It was for this reason that the dynamic mechanical and rheological properties of PA6/ABS blend systems compatibilised by acrylonitrilebutadiene- styrene–maleic anhydride (ABS-g-MAH) was studied. The compatibiliser level was kept up to 5wt. % in the blends. Short glass fibre (SGF) was used to improve the stiffness of the compatibilised blends and the concentration was varied from 10 to 30 wt. %. Therefore, the reason behind of blending the PA6/ABS blends with short glass fibre was to balance the toughness and stiffness. The blends and corresponding composites were compounded using a co-counter twin srew extruder. Tensile, flexural and impact properties were determined using the injection moulded test samples according to ASTM standards. Dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) were carried out to investigate the dynamic mechanical behaviour of the blends and composites. Rheological properties were carried out using dynamic and capillary rheometer. In general, the mechanical strength either dynamic (refer to DMA) or static conditions were improved by incorporation of compatibiliser to the PA6/ABS blends. The incorporation of SGF into the PA6/ABS blends enhanced the mechanical strength however, reduced the toughness of the composites. The rheological measurements confirmed the increased in interaction between the blend components with the incorporation of compatibiliser The compatibiliser has no favourable effect on the mechanical properties of the composites although it has significant effect on the blends of PA6/ABS. ABS-g-MAH increases the melt viscosity of the blends. The SGF increased the rheological properties especially viscosity and flowability of the composites. The optimum ratio compatibiliser and SGF concentration were successfully determined using power law and consistency index analysis. From the analysis the optimum ratio obtained was 1.5 wt. % for 50/50 and 60/40 PA6/ABS blends and 3 wt. % for 70/30 PA6/ABS blends. When the SGF introduced at 20 wt. % concentration, the values of n drastically decreased indicating more pseudoplastic nature for the composites and concluded that, the optimum concentration of SGF was about 20 wt. %.