Production of Polyamide 6 Filled with Nano TiO2: Effect of Temperature, Strength and Dyeing

Abstract

The advent of nanotechnology has invigorated textile industry. This paper reports the results of an investigation aiming at finding what affect the nano TiO₂ powder during extruding polyamide 6. Polyamide 6 with 0.03 % TiO₂ was blended with various amounts of industrial and Degussa P-25 nano TiO₂ (0.03, 0.33, 0.5 and 0.7 %) and extruded in order to obtain polyamide 6 fibers containing industrial amd nano TiO₂. The crystalline size and phase of the powder have been characterized by X-ray diffraction. Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) showed the existence percent of nano TiO₂ on surface of yarns and the scanning electron microscopy showed the nano particles pervade on the samples. Strength test of samples had good results in compare with the samples that had industrial TiO₂ with the same per cent. The results show that from low TiO₂ concentrations, the strength of nano filled fibers increase till about 0.65 % TiO₂ and from this point, it suddenly drops down. The differential thermal analysis/thermal gravimetric analysis (DTA/TGA) test was done in order to calculate nano TiO₂ pervade and ashing test used too. All of these tests had almost the same results and proved used amounts of nano TiO₂ in samples. Differential scanning calorimeter was used for calculating crystalline per cent of fibers. Samples were dyed with acid carmosine red 14 (CI 14720, 1 g/L) and dye adsorbing was investigated by reflectance spectrophotometer and was compared with industrial samples.