Chemical bonding and hydrogen bonding facilitated higher interfacial interaction of PA6/BF/POSS composites.

This work investigated the composites (PA6/BF) made of basalt fiber (BF) and nylon 6. To improve the interfacial bonding between the fibers and the polymer matrix, and to enhance the thermal and mechanical properties of the composites, polyhedral oligosilsesquioxanes (POSS) with epoxide groups was introduced to modify the surface of BFs using the slurry coating method. It is revealed that the mechanical properties of the composites increased and then decreased with increasing POSS coating. The composite PA6/BF‐POSS3 with BFs modified with a POSS solution of 3.0 wt% showed the best properties. The tensile strength of PA6/BF‐POSS3 was 130.8 MPa, 26.4% higher than that of the PA6/BF and 126.3% higher than that of neat PA6. In addition, PA6/BF‐POSS3 exhibited a 5% weight loss temperature of 417.7, 35.6°C higher than that of PA6/BF. The chemical bonding formed between the amide and epoxide groups, and the hydrogen bonding formed between the amide groups and hydroxyl groups were believed to be the main reasons for the improved interfacial interaction and improved properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]