Synthesis of polyamide 6 by anionic polymerization of ε-caprolactam in an internal mixer: Effect of polymerization reaction time

The main objective of the present work was to synthesis polyamide 6 through anionic polymerization of ε-caprolactam in an internal mixer. The reaction time and the rheological properties of samples during the polymerization were studied. The samples were characterized by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and FT-IR spectrometer. The melt flow behavior and viscoelastic properties of the samples were studied by using a Rheometric Mechanical Spectrometer (RMS). The polymerization reaction was found to be very fast such that it completed within 6 minutes as could be detected by following the mixing torque which reached to a steady state after passing a maximum. These results suggest that there is a reaction time above which the viscoelastic behavior of the samples almost remained unchanged, while the viscosity and elasticity of the samples continue to decrease with polymerization reaction time as a result of thermochemical degradation