Recorded Wednesday, May 30, 2017 – Presented by PolyOne
You may be interested in replacing metal to improve sustainability or decrease weight. Or perhaps you’re re-designing components that were over-specified in a high-end engineering thermoplastic material, and you’d like to replace it with one that meets requirements more cost-effectively. In either case, it’s likely you’ll consider using nylon at some point. Find out more about the two most popular grades in this webinar.
In this webinar, we’ll explore nylon 6 and nylon 66 (also called PA 6 and PA 66) to help you determine the best material for your application. You’ll learn what can you expect from each type of nylon, how to select the right material, and more, including:
- How nylon performs
- Where nylon is traditionally used
- How each type of nylon can be processed
- Benefits and drawbacks for both types of nylon
- What applications are best for each material (Nylon 6 vs Nylon 66)
Download the slides (for Prospector Members only) | Webinar Transcript
Mark: Both Nylon 6 and 66 materials are easy to process, provide incredible strength, they’re very tough. While they’re very similar, each offers separate and distinct benefits. Nylon 6 is made from a caprolactam monomer having six carbon atoms. It is known for its lustrous surface finish as well as its high impact strength and stress resistance effectively combining aesthetics with performance. Fiber-filled Nylon 6 is processed easily using extrusion or injection molding machinery. It processes at a lower temperature and is less crystalline than Nylon 66.
A 30% glass-filled Nylon 6 will melt at approximately 220 degrees C and will also exhibit lower mold shrinkage, a common benefit with crystalline and semicrystalline materials. Lower mold shrinkage has reliability and consistency to final part dimensions. Unlike Nylon 6, Nylon 66 is comprised of two monomers, Hexamethylenediamine, and adipic acid, each providing six carbon atoms hence the 66 name. The material is more crystalline in nature than Nylon 6 which improves stiffness and tensile and flexural modulus.
Fiber-filled Nylon 66 can easily be extruded or injection molded and it has a melting point of approximately 262 degrees C, which is about 40 degrees higher than Nylon 6. This causes it to be slightly more challenging to process. Additionally, Nylon 66 makes a bit greater mold shrinkage when compared to Nylon 6 because it’s more crystalline. To combat this, dimensions for extrusion dies and injection molds should be proportionately increased to account for the material shape change after processing.
In general, Nylon is a moisture sensitive material and will naturally absorb humidity from air. Nylon 6 will absorb slightly more moisture than Nylon 66. Because both materials absorb water, they require a prescribed drying step before they’re molded or extruded. And this thing occurs when you allow a molded or extruded part to rest in an ambient environment with normal humidity levels. As the part absorbs waters, the ductility and impact resistance can be improved by up to a factor of 10, but strength and stiffness are reduced.
When you’re researching Nylon types you will see D-A-M listed next to properties. And that acronym stands for dry as molded. Note that these are the properties you can achieve before any type of conditioning. Nylon 66 naturally absorbs less moisture than Nylon 6. But what is still relatively moisture sensitive compared to polycarbonate, for example. As with Nylon 6, drying before molding is necessary to achieve dry as molded properties.
Download full transcript here…
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Both Nylon 6 and 66 materials are easy to process, provide incredible strength, they’re very tough. While they’re very similar, each offers separate and distinct benefits. Nylon 6 is made from a caprolactam monomer having six carbon atoms