NMR Characterization of Nylon 6 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

NMR Characterization of Nylon 6 - Research Paper Example So, this paper focusing on Nylon-6 will discuss the characterization of structure and morphology in Nylon-6 by solid state carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 NMR. Solid state NMR is one among the powerful tools for studying the polymer structure, morphology and the dynamics. (Mirau 2001). Nylon – 6 polymeric materials is an important polyamide that has wide applications ranging from carpets and automotive parts to intimate apparel. Nylon – 6 is also found to store large amounts of iodine making them a good solid-state electrolyte. Nylon 6 has the [-NH (CH2)5(CO)-] repeating group. The nylon -6 contains the crystalline lamella in an amorphous matrix. Though it is crystalline the presence of this amorphous matrix makes the crystallography difficult. As nylon – 6 has various applications in many fields, the study about the structure and the conversion level among has become essential. As the hydrogen bonding in the polyamides makes them an important plastic because of the strength it provides. Nylon is found to exist in two different crystalline forms. The most stable form at high temperature is the alpha form which consists of anti parallel chain in an extended from with the hydrogen bonds. The second phase is known as the gamma phase. This phase is found to contain hydrogen bonds as pleated sheets between the parallel chains. In this form, the methylene next to the amide is found to adopt a skew conformation which is similar to the secondary structure confirmation. The important features of the gamma form are (i) the length between repeat units is shortened (0.35 AÂ º). (ii) Methylene groups in the amide groups are found tilted towards the plane. The crystal structure of nylon 6 was studied using the 13Cand 15NCross Polarization/Magic Angle Spinning (CP/MAS) NMR spectroscopy. (Casanovas & Aleman 2002). A large number of polymers are used commercially and biologically based on the nitrogen contained in the polymer. N15 NMR is used for the