Preparation And Performance Of Antistatic Nylon 6 Based On Metal Oxide

Nylon 6,also known as polyamide 6,is a representative of aliphatic nylon.It has high strength,good mechanical properties,self-lubrication,and excellent chemical resistance,making it widely used in various fields in China.However,the backbone of nylon 6 is connected by covalent bonds between elements,which cannot be ionized or transfer charges,resulting in the surface easily accumulating static electricity.The high volume resistivity of nylon 6,up to 10¹³-10¹⁴Ω·cm,restricts its application.Nanomaterials have been a hot research topic for scientists due to their advantages over conventional materials in optical,electrical,thermal properties,etc.Aluminum-doped zinc oxide nano powder（AZO）has a resistivity of only 10⁴Ω·cm,good thermal stability,and is environmentally friendly.Tin dioxide（Sn O₂）is a semiconductor material with good conductivity.Antimony-doped tin dioxide（ATO）has conductivity similar to that of metals and good transparency,and is not limited by climate and use environment.Therefore,this paper selected these three nanomaterials as antistatic agents to modify nylon 6 in order to obtain nylon 6 with excellent antistatic properties and expand its application range.This paper selected nano AZO powder,Sn O₂,and ATO water-based dispersion as modifiers,and carried out antistatic modification of nylon 6 by blending and in-situ polymerization.Nylon 6/M-AZO with a mass fraction of 2 wt%,5 wt%,8 wt%,and 10 wt%was successfully prepared,as well as nylon 6/Sn O₂and nylon 6/ATO with a mass fraction of0.5 wt%,1 wt%,1.5 wt%,and 2 wt%.A series of characterizations were performed on the polymer slices,and the results are as follows:The SEM and EDS results showed that the AZO,Sn O₂,and ATO particles were evenly dispersed in the nylon 6 matrix with minimal agglomeration.The DSC and XRD results indicated that the AZO,Sn O₂,and ATO particles played a role in heterogeneous nucleation in the nylon 6 matrix,promoting its crystallization,but also hindering the movement of molecular chains,resulting in someαcrystals transforming intoγcrystals.The TG results show that the thermal stability of antistatic modified nylon 6 still meets the demands of daily processing.The mechanical and relative viscosity test results showed that AZO,Sn O₂,and ATO all reduced the relative viscosity and tensile strength of nylon 6 to a certain degree.The antistatic performance test results showed that the modified nylon 6 had good antistatic properties,with the volume resistivity and surface resistivity 4-6 orders of magnitude lower than pure nylon 6.Based on these results,the nylon 6/ATO with a mass fraction of 1 wt%prepared by in-situ polymerization exhibited the best overall performance,with the volume resistivity and surface resistivity as low as 5.6×10⁸Ω·cm and 2.6×10⁹Ω,higher thermal stability and crystallinity than pure nylon 6,and similar crystallization temperature and melting point as pure nylon 6,with a slightly reduced tensile strength.