Examination of electrical conductivity, thermal stability, tensile strength and elongation of PA6/CNT/Clay nanocomposite fabricated by 3D printing

The aim of present paper is to fabricate the Polyamide 6/Carbon nanotubes/Clay (PA6/CNT/Clay) nanocomposites by using 3D printing and investigate the electrical conductivity, thermal stability, tensile strength and elongation of printed samples. Taguchi method and grey relational grade analysis are applied to find the optimum values of CNT content, clay content, feed rate and nozzle temperature. Analysis of the printed samples was performed by SEM, TGA, DSC and four-probe tests. Investigation of results declared that by adding the CNT and clay into the PA6, the thermal stability of PA6/CNT/Clay nanocomposites enhanced. The electrical conductivity of the PA6/CNT/Clay nanocomposite exhibited significant improvement by incorporating 1 wt% CNTs and 2 wt% clay nanoparticles. Taguchi method results also showed that the impact of CNT and clay contents on the tensile strength and elongation is greater than the other parameters. The results of optimization by grey relational grade indicated that the tensile strength and elongation of PA6/CNT/Clay nanocomposite can be improved by CNT content of 1 wt%, clay content of 2 wt%, feed rate of 30 mm/s, and nozzle temperature of 270°C.