Nanocompósitos poliméricos foram preparados por meio da incorporação de 1, 2, 5 e 10% das argilas montmorilonita organofílicas Cloisite 15A e 30B em poliamida-6, pelo método de fusão numa extrusora dupla rosca. Em seguida, foram reprocessados numa extrusora mono-rosca gerando folhas pelo método balão e caracterizados por meio de técnicas espectroscópicas, de análise térmica e difração de raio-X. Os estudos mostraram a formação de nanocompósitos com uma boa dispersão e esfolheamento, principalmente em concentrações de argila inferiores a 5%. Nas amostras com 5 e 10%, nanocompósitos intercalados também foram observados. Portanto, quando a concentração de argila aumenta no nanocompósito, fica cada vez mais difícil obter nanocompósitos totalmente esfoliados. Além disso, verificou-se que a incorporação de 1% da Cloisite 15A ou 30B induzem a cristalização do polímero, predominando a fase γ nos filmes. Entretanto, a medida que a concentração de argila aumenta a fração de fase amorfa tende a aumentar, provavelmente em decorrência da diminuição da velocidade do processo de recristalização em torno de 194 ºC, que gera a fase cristalina γ. Foi demonstrado a presença de um excesso de surfactante em uma das argilas organofílicas, tanto na parte exterior dos tactóides como na região interlamelar, aumentando o espaçamento basal e facilitando o processo de intercalação/esfolheamento. Todavia, o excesso de surfactante interfere nos processos de incorporação pois sofrem decomposição em temperaturas relativamente baixas (200 ºC) enquanto o cátion amônio intercalado se decompõe a 240 ºC. De fato, os estudos realizados comprovam que o surfactante tem influência direta sobre as propriedades das argilas organofílicas e grande importância no processo de incorporação. Melhorias significativas foram observadas nas propriedades de barreira a gases e mecânicas, principalmente com relação a resistência a tração, que aumenta a medida que se aumenta a concentração de argila. As propriedades de perfuração não foram significativamente modificadas, mas também verificou-se um aumento significativo da estabilidade mecânica em função da temperatura. Porém, a absorção de umidade interfere negativamente tanto nas propriedades mecânicas quanto na de barreira a gases, sendo que a Cloisite 15A é menos suscetível que a Cloisite 30B, provavelmente devido ao cátion de amônio quaternário ser mais hidrofóbico. Assim, os filmes de nanocompósitos de poliamida- 6/argila devem ter aplicações diversas na indústria de embalagens / Polymeric nanocomposites were obtained by incorporation of 1, 2, 5 e 10% of the organophilic clays Cloisite 15A e 30B in polyamide-6, using a twin-screw extruder and the melting process. Then, the pellets were reprocessed as films in a single-screw extruder coupled with the blow method, and those materials were characterized by means of spectroscopic, thermal and X-ray difraction techniques. The results were consistent with the formation of nanocomposites with excellent dispersion and exfoliation, especially when the concentration of clay was below 5%. In the samples containing 5 e 10%, the presence of tactoids were observed showing the formation of intercalated nanocomposites as well. Thus, as the concentration of organophillic clay increases, the fraction of completely exfoliated clay decreased. Furthermore, the incorporation of clays (Cloisite 15A or 30B) in concentrations as low as 1% induced the crystallization of polyamide-6, such that it was found in the films predominantly in the γ phase. However, as the concentration of clay increases there is a steady increase of the amorphous phase, probably due to the decrease of the rate of the recrystallization process at 194 ºC, responsible for the formation of the γ phase. Also, the presence of an excess of surfactant was confirmed for both, Clositite 15A and 30B, around the tactoids and in the interlamelar space also, increasing the basal distance and facilitating the intercalation/exfoliation process. However, such an excess interfere in the nanocomposite preparation process since decomposes at relatively low temperatures (200 ºC) while the intercalated quaternary ammonium cation decomposes at 240 ºC. In fact, we showed that the structure of the surfactant directly influences the properties of the organophilic clays, and has strong influence on the nanocomposite preparation process. Significant improvements in the barrier effect to gases and in the mechanical properties were noticed for the nanocomposites, particularly on the resistance to traction and on the mechanical stability as a function of temperature, but the resistance to perforation didnt change significantly as the concentration of clay increased. The absorption of water by the nanocomposites influenced negatively the mechanical properties and the barrier effect as well. However, the nanocomposites prepared with Cloisite 15A were less susceptible than those obtained with Cloisite 30B, probably because the quaternary ammoniun salt in the first one is more hydrophobic and repels more effectively the water molecules

Os polímeros têm sido usados em áreas diferentes, como indústrias automotivas, eletrônicas e de construção civil. A poliamida 6 (PA 6) é um dos principais plásticos de engenharia com aplicações em diversas áreas produtivas, devido as suas propriedades térmicas, mecânicas e a estabilidade dimensional. O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi estudar a potencialidade do uso do dióxido de silício coloidal (SiO2) como carga em substituição ao talco, estudando o efeito da radiação ionizante em suas propriedades. O SiO2 é uma substância amorfa com baixa densidade que tem potencial para ser usado como carga mineral em substituição ao talco na matriz da resina de PA 6. Atualmente o talco é a carga mineral mais utilizada pelas indústrias, por isto vem sofrendo redução de suas reservas ao longo dos anos. Este estudo foi desenvolvido a partir da preparação de um \"masterbeach\" de PA 6 com SiO2. Posteriormente, este \"masterbeach\" foi fracionado em diferentes porcentagens em uma matriz de PA 6. Os corpos de prova das amostras foram processados em uma extrusora dupla rosca, injetados e irradiados no acelerador de elétrons para estudar o efeito da radiação ionizante no compósito de PA 6 com diferentes porcentagens de SiO2. Assim sendo, as propriedades destes compósitos foram analisadas e comparadas com as propriedades das amostras de PA6 com talco. Os resultados mostraram que a utilização do SiO2 como carga para a poliamida 6 é tecnicamente viável, uma vez que suas propriedades foram semelhantes ao compósito de PA 6 com talco. A irradiação dos compósitos estudados apresentou melhorias principalmente nas propriedades térmicas e mecânicas. / Polymers have been used in different fields, such as automotive, civil construction and electronics industries. Polyamide 6 (PA 6) is one of the main engineering plastics with several productive applications areas. By the same token, there was an interest in improving their thermal, mechanical and dimensional stability properties. The main objective of this work was to study the potentiality of colloidal silicon dioxide such as filler. According to literature, SiO2 is an amorphous substance with low density. In addition, this material has the potential to be used as a mineral filler to replace the talc in the PA 6 resin matrix. Therefore, SiO2 load was compared to the mineral filler talc which is currently used by industries. Consequently, their reservations are decreasing all over the years. Indeed, these studies were developed from colloidal silicon dioxide with PA 6 the masterbatch elaboration. In addition, the masterbatch was fractionated in different percentages in a PA 6 matrix. It is important to emphasize that all samples were injected and irradiated by an electrons accelerator. Furthermore, the effect of ionizing radiation on the PA 6 composite in different SiO2 percentages was studied. In short, radiation interacts with the polymer by transferring energy to a polymer chain causing modifications that are interfering with its properties. Thus, the mechanical and thermal properties of these composites were measured. In this manner, the irradiation composite studied in that research brought improvements in the thermal and mechanical properties evaluated. In conclusion, results have shown that the use of colloidal silicon dioxide in polyamide 6 composite is technically feasible load to replace talc.

Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNP) was incorporated into polyamide 6 (PA6) matrix by melt compounding method and the enhancements in the properties of the nanocomposites were studied. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to assist in the study of processing conditions in melt compounding. RSM analysis revealed that the GNP concentrations to be the most significant term to affect the tensile modulus and crystallinity followed by the screw speed whereas the residence time was found to be non-significant. GNP with 5 Î1⁄4m (G5) and 25 Î1⁄4m (G25) were used in the GNP aspect ratio study. The average flake size of G5 and G25 to was measured to be 5.07 Î1⁄4m and 22.0 Î1⁄4m, respectively with the G5 distributed narrowly whereas the G25 exhibit broad distribution. TGA analysis shown that HT25 is more thermally stable compared to G25 due to some remnants lost during thermal treatment and this was confirmed by EDX and CHNS analysis. XRD profiles of the PA6-G-NC illustrate typical peaks of PA6 crystals phase as well as pure graphite characteristic peak. PA6-G25-NC observed to exhibit slightly higher peak intensity compared to PA6-G5-NC suggesting more formation of PA6 crystals. Similar improvement was observed on PA6-HT25-NC compared to PA6-G25-NC indicating more formation of PA6 crystals due improved dispersion of HT25. DSC on PA6-G25-NC showed higher cooling temperature and crystallinity compared to PA6-G5-NC due to larger surface area of the G25. Similarly, PA6-HT25 showed better improvement in crystallinity over PA6-G25-NC due to increase nucleation sites by the HT25. The thermal conductivity of PA6-G25-NC is slightly higher than the thermal conductivity of PA6-G5-NC but not significant considering the G25 is 5 times larger than G5. Instead, no significant difference was observed between PA6-HT25-NC and PA6-G25-NC. Addition of GNP increased the thermal stability of the PA6-G-NC systems under both nitrogen and air atmospheres regardless of the GNP aspect ratio. The viscoelastic properties showed insignificant difference between PA6-G5-NC and PA6-G25-NC. The inefficient improvement by G25 might be due to agglomeration formed during processing. The storage modulus and tan Î ́ of PA6-HT25-NC decreased but the Tg significantly improved compared to PA6-G25-NC. This was assumed to be because of improved dispersion of HT25 but reduced interfacial interaction after the heat treatment. The shear storage modulus, G’ and complex viscosity, |η*| were observed to increase with increasing GNP content with more pronounced improvement seen on PA6-G25-NC compared to PA6-G5-NC. However, no network percolation threshold was observed until 20 wt.% of GNP. The poor interfacial interaction of HT25 resulted in lower G’ and |η*| compared to G25. Tensile test results showed typical improvement with PA6-G25-NC having higher tensile modulus compared to PA6-G5-NC. Further enhancement was obtained with PA6-HT25-NC suggesting improved dispersion and volume of constrained chains mobility despite the poor surface interaction. Comparison with Halphin-Tsai modulus revealed that the effective modulus to be 150 GPa for G5 and 200 GPa for G25. The water uptake measurement results showed that GNP reduced the water uptake percentage and diffusion coefficient especially with G25. The test conducted on saturated PA6-G-NC results in improved thermal conductivity due to the high thermal conductivity of water but the viscoelastic and tensile properties severely reduced due to plasticisation effect.

Nanocompósitos poliméricos foram preparados por meio da incorporação de 1, 2, 5 e 10% das argilas montmorilonita organofílicas Cloisite 15A e 30B em poliamida-6, pelo método de fusão numa extrusora dupla rosca. Em seguida, foram reprocessados numa extrusora mono-rosca gerando folhas pelo método balão e caracterizados por meio de técnicas espectroscópicas, de análise térmica e difração de raio-X. Os estudos mostraram a formação de nanocompósitos com uma boa dispersão e esfolheamento, principalmente em concentrações de argila inferiores a 5%. Nas amostras com 5 e 10%, nanocompósitos intercalados também foram observados. Portanto, quando a concentração de argila aumenta no nanocompósito, fica cada vez mais difícil obter nanocompósitos totalmente esfoliados. Além disso, verificou-se que a incorporação de 1% da Cloisite 15A ou 30B induzem a cristalização do polímero, predominando a fase γ nos filmes. Entretanto, a medida que a concentração de argila aumenta a fração de fase amorfa tende a aumentar, provavelmente em decorrência da diminuição da velocidade do processo de recristalização em torno de 194 ºC, que gera a fase cristalina γ. Foi demonstrado a presença de um excesso de surfactante em uma das argilas organofílicas, tanto na parte exterior dos tactóides como na região interlamelar, aumentando o espaçamento basal e facilitando o processo de intercalação/esfolheamento. Todavia, o excesso de surfactante interfere nos processos de incorporação pois sofrem decomposição em temperaturas relativamente baixas (200 ºC) enquanto o cátion amônio intercalado se decompõe a 240 ºC. De fato, os estudos realizados comprovam que o surfactante tem influência direta sobre as propriedades das argilas organofílicas e grande importância no processo de incorporação. Melhorias significativas foram observadas nas propriedades de barreira a gases e mecânicas, principalmente com relação a resistência a tração, que aumenta a medida que se aumenta a concentração de argila. As propriedades de perfuração não foram significativamente modificadas, mas também verificou-se um aumento significativo da estabilidade mecânica em função da temperatura. Porém, a absorção de umidade interfere negativamente tanto nas propriedades mecânicas quanto na de barreira a gases, sendo que a Cloisite 15A é menos suscetível que a Cloisite 30B, provavelmente devido ao cátion de amônio quaternário ser mais hidrofóbico. Assim, os filmes de nanocompósitos de poliamida- 6/argila devem ter aplicações diversas na indústria de embalagens / Polymeric nanocomposites were obtained by incorporation of 1, 2, 5 e 10% of the organophilic clays Cloisite 15A e 30B in polyamide-6, using a twin-screw extruder and the melting process. Then, the pellets were reprocessed as films in a single-screw extruder coupled with the blow method, and those materials were characterized by means of spectroscopic, thermal and X-ray difraction techniques. The results were consistent with the formation of nanocomposites with excellent dispersion and exfoliation, especially when the concentration of clay was below 5%. In the samples containing 5 e 10%, the presence of tactoids were observed showing the formation of intercalated nanocomposites as well. Thus, as the concentration of organophillic clay increases, the fraction of completely exfoliated clay decreased. Furthermore, the incorporation of clays (Cloisite 15A or 30B) in concentrations as low as 1% induced the crystallization of polyamide-6, such that it was found in the films predominantly in the γ phase. However, as the concentration of clay increases there is a steady increase of the amorphous phase, probably due to the decrease of the rate of the recrystallization process at 194 ºC, responsible for the formation of the γ phase. Also, the presence of an excess of surfactant was confirmed for both, Clositite 15A and 30B, around the tactoids and in the interlamelar space also, increasing the basal distance and facilitating the intercalation/exfoliation process. However, such an excess interfere in the nanocomposite preparation process since decomposes at relatively low temperatures (200 ºC) while the intercalated quaternary ammonium cation decomposes at 240 ºC. In fact, we showed that the structure of the surfactant directly influences the properties of the organophilic clays, and has strong influence on the nanocomposite preparation process. Significant improvements in the barrier effect to gases and in the mechanical properties were noticed for the nanocomposites, particularly on the resistance to traction and on the mechanical stability as a function of temperature, but the resistance to perforation didnt change significantly as the concentration of clay increased. The absorption of water by the nanocomposites influenced negatively the mechanical properties and the barrier effect as well. However, the nanocomposites prepared with Cloisite 15A were less susceptible than those obtained with Cloisite 30B, probably because the quaternary ammoniun salt in the first one is more hydrophobic and repels more effectively the water molecules

The thermo-oxidative degradation of unstabilized polyamide 6 (PA-6) was investigated by a number of novel techniques in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the oxidative degradation of polymers. Particular attention was given to the influence of end groups on PA-6 oxidation by studying samples that terminated predominantly in carboxylic, amine or methyl end groups. The changes occurring in the oxidative stabilities and mechanisms of PA-6 as a result of altering the end groups of PA-6 were investigated by a technique termed CL-DSC, which simultaneously measures the chemiluminescence (CL) and heat flow (DSC) from a sample. When amine end groups were abundant in the PA-6 sample a chemically induced electron exchange luminescence (CIEEL) mechanism could occur directly and the CL intensity was proportional to the heat flow curve of the DSC. However, when amine end groups were absent it was the first derivative of the CL intensity that was proportional to the heat flow curve because the CIEEL mechanism could not operate until an easily oxidisable luminescent oxidation product was formed. Due to the dramatic effect end groups have on the oxidation mechanisms of PA-6 it was hypothesized that end groups could be sites analogous to the impurities in polyolefins that lead to heterogeneous oxidation. To test this hypothesis, CL Imaging was used to map the occurrence and extent of oxidation across samples of PA-6 to display the influence end groups have on the homogeneous or heterogeneous nature of PA-6 oxidation. Sequences of FTIES spectra collected at specified time intervals during the in situ oxidation of PA-6 samples terminating in the different end groups were turned into oxidation product profiles. The differences between spectra related to significant points on the oxidation profiles were compared in an attempt to elucidate the chemical or physical changes occurring in the samples during oxidation. To identify the species involved in the mechanistically different oxidation processes resulting from the different end groups, methods for the MALDI-TOF analysis of non-oxidized and oxidized PA- 6 samples were developed via trial and error. It was only possible to detect the occurrence of degradation products by MALDI-TOF MS after considerable oxidation as measured by chemiluminescence, by which time the species were the result of a number of oxidative processes. Therefore, identification of the species formed was not possible.

Os polímeros têm sido usados em áreas diferentes, como indústrias automotivas, eletrônicas e de construção civil. A poliamida 6 (PA 6) é um dos principais plásticos de engenharia com aplicações em diversas áreas produtivas, devido as suas propriedades térmicas, mecânicas e a estabilidade dimensional. O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi estudar a potencialidade do uso do dióxido de silício coloidal (SiO2) como carga em substituição ao talco, estudando o efeito da radiação ionizante em suas propriedades. O SiO2 é uma substância amorfa com baixa densidade que tem potencial para ser usado como carga mineral em substituição ao talco na matriz da resina de PA 6. Atualmente o talco é a carga mineral mais utilizada pelas indústrias, por isto vem sofrendo redução de suas reservas ao longo dos anos. Este estudo foi desenvolvido a partir da preparação de um \"masterbeach\" de PA 6 com SiO2. Posteriormente, este \"masterbeach\" foi fracionado em diferentes porcentagens em uma matriz de PA 6. Os corpos de prova das amostras foram processados em uma extrusora dupla rosca, injetados e irradiados no acelerador de elétrons para estudar o efeito da radiação ionizante no compósito de PA 6 com diferentes porcentagens de SiO2. Assim sendo, as propriedades destes compósitos foram analisadas e comparadas com as propriedades das amostras de PA6 com talco. Os resultados mostraram que a utilização do SiO2 como carga para a poliamida 6 é tecnicamente viável, uma vez que suas propriedades foram semelhantes ao compósito de PA 6 com talco. A irradiação dos compósitos estudados apresentou melhorias principalmente nas propriedades térmicas e mecânicas. / Polymers have been used in different fields, such as automotive, civil construction and electronics industries. Polyamide 6 (PA 6) is one of the main engineering plastics with several productive applications areas. By the same token, there was an interest in improving their thermal, mechanical and dimensional stability properties. The main objective of this work was to study the potentiality of colloidal silicon dioxide such as filler. According to literature, SiO2 is an amorphous substance with low density. In addition, this material has the potential to be used as a mineral filler to replace the talc in the PA 6 resin matrix. Therefore, SiO2 load was compared to the mineral filler talc which is currently used by industries. Consequently, their reservations are decreasing all over the years. Indeed, these studies were developed from colloidal silicon dioxide with PA 6 the masterbatch elaboration. In addition, the masterbatch was fractionated in different percentages in a PA 6 matrix. It is important to emphasize that all samples were injected and irradiated by an electrons accelerator. Furthermore, the effect of ionizing radiation on the PA 6 composite in different SiO2 percentages was studied. In short, radiation interacts with the polymer by transferring energy to a polymer chain causing modifications that are interfering with its properties. Thus, the mechanical and thermal properties of these composites were measured. In this manner, the irradiation composite studied in that research brought improvements in the thermal and mechanical properties evaluated. In conclusion, results have shown that the use of colloidal silicon dioxide in polyamide 6 composite is technically feasible load to replace talc.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Organic and inorganic pollutants are two broad classes of pollutants in the environment with their main sources from waste waters that are indiscriminately dumped from chemical related industries. Among the organic pollutants are dyes that come as effluents from the textile industries. Toxic metals are the main inorganic pollutants with their sources from industries such as mining, electroplating, batteries etc. The presence of both classes of pollutants in the aquatic environment poses a serious threat to aquatic organisms and humans who depend on these waters for domestic purpose. Therefore, this research focused on the fabrication of materials and designing of methods for removal of both classes of pollutants from their aqueous solutions.

Les réservoirs composites de type IV utilisés pour le stockage de l’hydrogène gazeux rencontrent du succès dans les applications mobiles de la pile à combustible. Au cours de leur utilisation, ces supports de stockage sont soumis à des cycles successifs de remplissage/maintien/vidange en hydrogène. Sous des conditions spécifiques de vidange, l’apparition d’un décollement entre l’enveloppe en polyamide 6 qui assure l’étanchéité (liner) et la paroi composite, peut être observée. Ce décollement, encore appelé collapse, peut poser des problèmes de limitation à un débit de vidange lent ou à un seuil minimal de pression résiduelle du gaz sur le liner.Air Liquide a cherché à élucider expérimentalement l’influence des cycles de pression en hydrogène sur le comportement mécanique des liners en situation de collapse. Mais compte tenu des coûts très élevés des essais, l’utilisation d’un outil numérique prédictif s’avérait nécessaire. L’enjeu principal dans le développement d’un tel outil était la modélisation du comportement d’un liner collapsé sous des chargements de cyclage – fluage.L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une loi de comportement capable de prédire l’évolution cyclique de la déformée d’un liner en situation collapsée.Le liner est exposé à plusieurs variations de son environnement : présence d’un résidu d’humidité dans le liner après épreuve hydraulique, variations de températures générées par la compression/détente de l’hydrogène, diffusion de l’hydrogène dans le liner. Un travail préliminaire a donc consisté à évaluer l’influence de ces différents facteurs environnementaux sur la réponse mécanique du polyamide 6. Cette première étape a permis de définir un cadre de sollicitation à l’échelle du laboratoire, mais qui préserve les principales caractéristiques du collapse. Les essais de caractérisation sur éprouvette ont montré que le liner pouvait être modélisé par une loi viscoélastique multiaxiale formulée dans le cadre thermodynamique des processus irréversibles en petites déformations, faiblement couplée avec la thermique. Des modifications mineures ont été introduites pour permettre à cette loi de capter les effets du comportement en fatigue-fluage d’un liner en situation collapsé. Ces modifications ont malheureusement pénalisé l’identification manuelle et par conséquent, ont conduit à développer une stratégie d’identification spécifique. La qualité de d’identification a été évaluée dans le cadre isotherme en regardant les effets de la vitesse de la sollicitation, du niveau de contrainte et de la température. Puis, le modèle a été validé en présence de transitoires thermiques, d’abord sur éprouvette, ensuite dans un réservoir en présence d’un collapse. / Hyperbaric hydrogen storage vessels of type IV are encountering success for portable applications of fuel cell. During their use, these cylindric containers undergo repeated fill in/fill out cycles of H2-gaz. Under specific fillout conditions, an emerging detachment between the sealing inner layer (liner) and the composite wall, can be observed. This layer debonding also called collapse may limit the pressure release rate of H2-vessels or increase the residual gas pressure prescribed to avoid collapse.Experimental studies have been conducted by Air Liquide at vessel scale to identify some parameters responsible for the collapse onset. But the high cost of these studies and the complexity of the operating conditions makes the use of numerical tools necessary. That led to a numerical modeling approach. The main goal in the numerical approach is to model the cyclic mechanical response of a collapsed liner under fatigue – creep loadings.In this thesis, the purpose was to develop a mechanical constitutive law able to predict the cyclic deformation of a collapsed liner subjected to hydrogen pressure cycles.The liner was subjected to several environment variations due to: (i) the presence of residual water into the liner after initial hydraulic vessel tests, (ii) the temperature changes caused by the hydrogen compression/expansion, and (iii) the hydrogen diffusion/saturation. So, a preliminary work consisted in investigating the influence of each environmental factor on the polyamide 6 mechanical response. This first step allowed to outline a loading frame at laboratory scale that preserved main characteristics of the collapse phenomenon. Characterization tests on tensile specimens revealed that the liner could be modelled by a non linear viscoelastic law written within the thermodynamic framework of the irreversible processes in small deformations, and coupled with the temperature. Minor changes were introduced to extend the model capacity to capture liner behavior effects during fatigue – creep. These changes had negative impact on the manual method of model calibration, and consequently required to develop a specific identification strategy. The identification performance was assessed in different isothermal frames through stress rate, stress level and temperature effects. Then, the calibrated model was validated by taking temperature gradients into account, firstly on a tensile specimen, secondly within a H2-vessel.

Yes / Polyamide 6 (PA6) is an important engineering thermoplastic, very widely used but prone to thermal degradation during extrusion at temperature not far from its melt temperature (220 oC). Typically, and as measured in this study, PA6 extruded at temperature of 300 oC shows a 40% decrease in tensile modulus compared to non-extruded PA6. To rebuild PA6 molecular weight, the easiest and cheapest method is to use an appropriate chain extender. Many chain extenders have been used in the past but they are essentially suited to nucleophile induced degradation, targeting split PA6 chains carboxyl COOH and amine NH2 end groups. What has been lacking are effective chain extenders for thermally only induced degradation, i.e. for the practical cases where the PA6 is thoroughly dried before extrusion. For such a case, the degradation reaction mechanism dictates that the solution is to develop chain extenders that target the split PA6 chains amide CONH2 groups not the carboxyl COOH and amine NH2 end groups. As amide groups strongly react with anhydride functionalities, we test the effectiveness of a novel chain extender, Joncryl® ADR 3400, a styrene maleic anhydride copolymer with multiple, repeating anhydride functionality. Assessment of chain extension in this study is done as with previous work, using rheology, mechanical and thermal properties of PA6 extruded on its own and with the chain extender. The viscoelastic data conclusively show the efficacy of such chain extender with more than 10 fold changes in the comparative values of the extruded sample storage modulus G' and as much as an 85% increase in the tensile modulus. / Republic of Turkey, Ministry of National Education. University of Bradford

La morphologie et les propriétés de sorption d’eau et d’éthanol de films extrudés minces de polyamide 6 ont été étudiées pour différentes conditions de mise en oeuvre (température de chill roll (TCR) de 50 et 125°C et taux d’étirage compris entre x et y). L’influence de l’ajout de faibles taux de nanocharges lamellaires (montmorillonite (MMT) ou phosphate de Zirconium (ZrP)) a également été évaluée. L’étirage n’a, dans la gamme étudiée, aucun effet sur la morphologie et les propriétés de sorption des films. Les films de PA6 préparés à une température de chill roll de 50°C présentent en revanche une proportion de phase cristalline g plus faible que les films préparés à une TCR de 125°C. L’épaisseur des lamelles cristallines y est plus fine et la mobilité des chaînes de la phase amorphe y est réduite. L’ajout de faibles taux de montmorillonite à une TCR de 50°C modifie significativement la mobilité des chaînes de la phase amorphe, les proportions des phases cristallines a et g et l’orientation des lamelles cristallines, contrairement à une TCR de 125°C où l’impact de la MMT n’a été observé qu’au niveau de l’orientation de la phase cristalline g. Les mécanismes de sorption de vapeur d’eau et d’éthanol ont été étudiés pour l’ensemble des films. Les isothermes de sorption ont été modélisées afin d’étudier plus particulièrement les phénomènes d’agrégation observés à haute activité. Une modélisation des courbes cinétiques a également été proposée sur la base de l’approche de Berens et Hopfenberg. La confrontation des données thermodynamiques et cinétiques de sorption et des paramètres morphologiques caractéristiques des matériaux a permis de conclure à un rôle prépondérant des interfaces entre zone amorphe et zone cristalline sur le transport / The morphology and water and ethanol sorption properties of thin films made of polyamide 6 were studied in relation to different transformation conditions, namely chill roll temperature (TCR) (50 and 125°C) and stretching ratio (between 6 and 10.8). The influence of nanofillers (montmorillonite (MMT) and zirconium phosphate (ZrP)) was also investigated. It was observed that stretching has no influence on neither the morphology nor the sorption properties in the studied range. In contrast unfilled films prepared at a chill roll temperature of 50°C have a lower amount of g crystalline phase, thinner cristalline lamellae and reduced amorphous phase mobility than films prepared at a chill roll temperature of 125°C. Adding low amounts of MMT at a TCR of 50°C has a remarkable impact on chain mobility, a and g crystalline phase fractions and lamellar orientation whereas the nanoparticules added at a TCR of 125°C only affect the crystalline orientation. Vapor sorption mechanisms were studied for both filled and unfilled films. The sorption isotherm curves were modelled to obtain a deeply understanding of the aggregation phenomena observed at high activity. Modelling of the kinetics was proposed according to Berens and Hopfenberg approach. Coupling the thermodynamics and kinetics of sorption with the morphological data leads to the conclusion that the interfaces between the amorphous and crystalline domains play a critical role on transport properties