A facile strategy to improve the mechanical and thermal conductivity of PA6 nanocomposites by introducing graphene oxide/sodium benzoate compounding nucleator

Abstract In this study, a new and facile route has been developed to prepare graphene oxide (GO)/sodium benzoate (Sb) compounding nucleator (GO‐Sb) reinforced polyamide 6 (PA6) nanocomposites. The effects and mechanism of adding GO/Sb compounding nucleator on the morphology and properties of PA6 nanocomposites were systematically investigated. The experimental results showed that there are electrostatic interaction and π–π conjugation between GO and Sb, which make the GO‐Sb compounding nucleator homogenously dispersed in matrix and gain good interfacial adhesion. XRD and DSC analysis revealed that incorporation of Sb improved the formation of γ ‐crystal. In addition, GO‐Sb significantly enhanced the crystallization temperature of PA6 nanocomposites due to “the heterogeneous nucleating effects”. The tensile results showed that the tensile strength and elastic modulus of the nanocomposites can be obviously improved by incorporation of GO‐Sb compounding nucleator at low contents. The tensile strength and impact strength of the PA6‐GO‐Sb (100/0.05/0.25) nanocomposite were enhanced by 69.9% and 157.1%, respectively compared with pure PA6. Compared with pure PA6, the thermal conductivity of PA6‐GO‐Sb (100/0.05/0.25) nanocomposite increased by 258.8%. This simple and effective approach is believed to offer possibilities for broadening the graphene applications with the development of PA6‐graphene nanocomposites.