Organoclay‐reinforced dynamically vulcanized thermoplastic elastomers of polyamide‐6/polyepichlorohydrin‐co‐ethylene oxide

Dynamically vulcanized thermoplastic elastomers (TPVs) based on polyamide‐6 (PA‐6) and poly(epichlorohydrin‐co‐ethylene oxide) (ECO) and their nanocomposites were prepared via melt‐blending process. The unfilled and organoclay (OC)‐filled TPVs were characterized using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and mechanical tests. XRD and TEM results showed that the OC particles were well exfoliated into the samples with high rubber content while both intercalated and exfoliated structures were found in the samples with low rubber content. The mechanical properties showed that ECO improved the elongation at break and the presence of OC increased the Young's modulus. Also, wide angle XRD analysis showed an increase in α‐crystals of PA‐6 with addition of ECO rubber. Moreover, it was found that by increasing OC content, crystallization temperature increased but the degree of crystallinity decreased. TGA showed that increasing ECO content decreased thermal stability of the samples, while the presence of OC did not have any considerable effect on the thermal stability. POLYM. COMPOS., 38:1948–1956, 2017. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers