Studies of microstructural and mechanical properties of Nylon/Glass composite Part II The effect of microstructures on mechanical and interfacial properties

This is a part of a series of studies on the influence of thermal processing on microstructures and mechanical properties of thermoplastic composites. In this paper, the effect of cooling rate during thermal moulding processes on the mechanical properties of bulk unidirectional commingled yarn GF/PA6 composites (Iosipescu shear strength, transverse flexural tensile strength and elastic modulus) has been investigated. Cooling rate from fast to slow, –60°C/min, –3°C/min and –1°C/min, were achieved at 1.5 MPa pressure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyse the damaging mechanisms of the fracture surfaces of the tested samples. The different dynamic responses of the samples were observed by polarised optical microscopy (POM) during the mechanical tests. The results indicated that when the cooling rate was varied from fast to slow, the interfacial tensile and shear strength were improved associated with enhanced elastic modulus. These results may be attributed to the slow cooling achieved a high transcrystallinity between the glass fibres and PA6 matrix, and high crystallinity of phase in the PA6 matrix.