Electron beam induced crosslinking of nylon 6 with and without the presence of TAC

The influence of electron beam irradiation on neat nylon 6 was manifested by formation of molecular branches deduced from increase in melt flow index and intrinsic viscosity. Crosslinking of nylon 6 was carried out using electron beam irradiation in presence of triallyl cyanurate (TAC). The crosslinked samples showed a high level of gel content. At a given dose, increasing the TAC level from 1% to 3% increased the gel content of the samples slightly and correspondingly decreased the percent of water absorption. The melting temperature decreased with increasing the dose and the TAC level. All samples containing TAC showed some decrease in crystallinity under exposure to electron beam. The crosslinked nylon 6 samples showed higher thermal stability as it was verified by its heat deflection temperature. Elongation at break decreased while the tensile strength and yield stress increased as a function of TAC level and absorbed dose.