An investigation of glass-fibre-reinforced polyamide 66 during conditioning in various automotive fluids

Thomason, James and Porteus, G. (2011) An investigation of glass-fibre-reinforced polyamide 66 during conditioning in various automotive fluids. Polymer Composites, 32 (9). pp. 1369-1379. ISSN 0272-8397

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Abstract

Injection moulded glass-fiber reinforced polyamide 66 composites and unreinforced polymer samples have been characterised during conditioning up to 900 hours in water, ethylene glycol and water-glycol mixture at 50°C and 70°C. All materials showed significant fluid and temperature dependent weight and volume increase. Glass reinforcement significantly reduced the polymer fluid uptake. The absorption of the antifreeze mixture initially follows a simple rule of mixtures of the absorption of the two individual components. However, after absorption of approximately 5% a significantly higher than predicted level of antifreeze absorption was observed. This coincided with a significant increase in the volumetric swelling coefficient. Dynamic mechanical analysis and unnotched impact testing indicated significant changes in composite mechanical performance dependent on conditioning fluid and temperature.

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