Decomposition kinetics of nylon-6/graphite and nylon-6/graphite oxide composites

Composite materials of nylon-6/graphite oxide and of nylon-6/graphite were synthesized and their decomposition kinetics determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Our research shows that both graphite and graphite oxide can be used as fillers to enhance the thermal stability of the polymer. The activation energy for the decomposition of pure nylon-6 itself was found to be 165.4 kJ/mol. The presence of graphite as a filler material produced the greatest enhancement in the thermal stability of the polymer when present at 15 wt.%. The activation energy for the decomposition of the resulting composite was 195.4 kJ/mol, an enhancement of 30.0 kJ/mol over the pure polymer. On the other hand, when present at only 5 wt.%, graphite oxide was shown to significantly enhance the thermal stability of the nylon-6. The activation energy of the resulting material was determined to be 191.1 kJ/mol, an enhancement of 25.7 kJ/mol when compared to the pure polymer.