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ABSTRACT The effect of thermal treatment over a wide range of temperature (130-280°C) on the crystallization behavior of nylon 6 was studied by using DSC, FTIR, and polarized light microscope equipped with a hot stage. The crystallization and the subsequent melting behavior of the nylon 6 samples treated at different temperatures ( Ts) were classified into four types. When Ts was higher than 236°C or lower than 213°C, the crystallization behavior of nylon 6 was insensitive to the variation of Ts. When Ts was in the range of 213-235°C, the crystallization behavior was sensitive to the change of Ts. The polarized light microscopic experiments have demonstrated that a large amount of tiny ordered nylon 6 segments/cluster persisted when nylon 6 film are heated to 231°C. Consequently, the fastest crystallization speed was observed. As Ts was between 214 and 223°C, both the Tm and the Δ Hm were higher than those of the nylon 6 samples treated at other temperature. The polarized light microscopic investigations have also demonstrated that molten nylon 6 crystallizes by using the un-molten nylon 6 crystals as nucleation center at 220°C. Crystallization at higher temperature produces nylon 6 with thicker crystalline lamella. The above results are helpful for rational design of thermal treatment procedure to obtain nylon 6 with different crystalline features. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42413. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Different amounts of yttrium ions were introduced into polyamide 6 (PA6) matrix by solution casting process. Structure, morphology and properties of the obtained PA6/Y3+ composite films were investigated by using FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), polarized optical microscope (POM) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) methods. Yttrium ions show strong coordination ability and their complexation with amide groups of PA6 can be reflected by the appearance of new bands in the amide A and amide I regions in FT-IR and Raman spectra. Furthermore, the FT-IR and Raman spectra of the PA6/Y3+ composite show that the resultant chain conformations of the amide groups in the composite films are twisted from the ideal trans conformation. The DSC results reveal that Y3+ ions cause a significant reduction of the melting point of PA6. In addition, the existence of Y3+ prevents the crystallization of molten PA6/Y3+ composite films during the cooling process. Moreover, the PA6/Y3+ composite can convert into γ phase PA6 or α phase PA6 when different solvents are used to remove Y3+ ions and induce crystallization of PA6. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]