High efficiency toughness of aromatic sulfonamide in polyamide 6

In order to overcome the brittle fracture characteristics of polyamides, the study on high efficiency toughening of polyamides is always a hot topic. In this article, n ‐ethyl‐ p ‐toluene sulfonamide (N‐PTSA) was used as the toughening agent in polyamide 6 (PA6) matrix. The PA6/N‐PTSA composites were prepared by melt compounding method. The PA6 composites were analyzed systematically from aspects of mechanical properties, thermal properties, crystal structures, and hydrogen bonds. There existed an obvious toughening effect in PA6 composite with the addition of 7 wt % of N‐PTSA. Meanwhile, the tensile strength of the composite was not reduced. The addition of N‐PTSA induced the formation of α‐form crystals, higher crystallinities and lower density of hydrogen bonds in the composites, which was beneficial to improvement of the mechanical properties. Based on the above results, the molecular structure model of toughening mechanism of N‐PTSA in PA6 was established.