Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.86, No.3, 559-571, 2002
Properties of bioriented nylon 6 films related to film production technology
Four production steps, extrusion, blowing, stabilization, and finishing, are involved in the manufacture of biorented nylon 6 films. The films obtained after each step were studied by wide-angle diffraction X-rays, IR analysis, and density measurements. Orientation in the amorphous phase was evaluated by thermal retraction. Free volume was investigated by positron annihilation spectroscopy. Mechanical properties were tested by tensile tests, and permeability was tested with isopiestic permeameters. Quenching, after extrusion, generated an unstable gamma crystalline phase and an amorphous phase. Blowing transformed the unstable gamma phase into the thermodynamically stable alpha phase and increased the chain orientation; stabilization increased alpha phase crystals, favored hydrogen bond formation and, therefore, the mechanical properties, leaving unchanged the chain orientation; the final treatment increased the mechanical properties. The film permeabilities to O-2, N-2, and CO2 were practically unchanged after each production step; this result may be explained by considering that the nanoholes, present in the films and responsible for the diffusion inside the polymer, maintained practically constant their radius, whereas their number concentration decreased slowly after thermomechanical treatments.