Abstract
The static mechanical properties of nylon 66 annealed in glycerol at 201°C for various periods and those of variously treated samples were examined by thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and thermal stress/strain analysis (TSA) comparing with the dynamic mechanical properties. The strongly annealed sample preserved its shape and strength above the melting point. The crosslinked sample showed properties resembling those of the severely annealed sample, and the hydrolysed sample showed more deteriorated properties than those of the annealed sample. Hence, it could be concluded that the sample annealed severely was easily set to a gel accompanying thermal degradation during the annealing. For the annealed, hydrolysed and crosslinked samples, an α' dispersion peak in loss moduli appeared frequently accompanying with a peak at the lower temperature. Two peaks were attributed to two distinct domains in the amorphous parts, i.e. the partly ordered region where molecular chains exhibit local regularities over short ranges and the disordered region caused by introduction of irregularities.
