On the overall elastic moduli of polymer–clay nanocomposite materials using a self-consistent approach. Part II: Experimental verification

Polyamide-6 (PA6) based nanocomposites were prepared using a modified montmorillonite (MMT) Cloisite 20A as nanofillers. The silicate weight fraction of the prepared nanocomposites, determined by burning off the PA6 matrix, was ranged from 0.2 wt% up to 7.5 wt%. The thermomechanical properties of both the neat PA6 and the PA6 filled with MMT nanoclay were measured by means of uniaxial tension tests and dynamic mechanical thermoanalysis, their crystallinity analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry and their morphology observed by transmission electron microscopy. The elastic stiffness of PA6–clay nanocomposites was examined under two moisture levels and was analyzed with the theory formulated in the Part I of this work. Predicted results are found in good agreement with our experiments. The model capabilities are also critically discussed by comparisons with both experiments issued from the literature and the Mori–Tanaka approach widely used in recent literature. It is demonstrated that the proposed micromechanical model is more efficient than the Mori–Tanaka approach. Moreover, the obtained results support the idea that the elastic stiffness of polymer–clay nanocomposites is governed by the same mechanisms as microcomposites, the effects of particle dimension or constrained region being of a second order.