Advisor: Dr. Pelegri

Lab Members involved: Luis Rafael Miranda Rodriguez

Abstract:

Impact properties on polymeric materials tend to behave differently depending on processing and inclusions. It is
interesting to modern science to evaluate how these processes and inclusions can help to enhance polymers in
extreme scenarios. Thus, one such polymeric material, Polyamide 6 (PA6), is studied using different processing
methods under impact testing. Several categories of PA6 composites were analyzed, including neat, heat-stabilized,
oil and molybdenum disulfide-doped (oil & MoS2), and glass fiber solid lubricant-doped. The analysis was
performed using an in-house Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar and computational analysis. It was found that PA6 with
inclusions was more capable of maintaining dynamic modulus. In contrast, rapid deterioration of dynamic modulus
was found in those that did not have inclusions when evaluated at an increased strain rate. The cracking of samples
started at the 1900s-1 strain rate, and the shattering of samples did not occur until the 2300s-1 strain rate. In the end,
it was observed that adding inclusions assisted in the hardening of samples at higher strain rates.