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Nylon 66 Pellets: Nylon Salt Polymerised in an Autoclave, Carothers 1938
Nylon salt heated to 288 °C under oxygen-free nitrogen gives off water and joins into long chains of nylon 66 (Carothers, du Pont, US 2,130,948, 1938: two moles of salt in a silver-lined autoclave). A pinch of extra adipic acid keeps the melt's viscosity steady. The polymer is then extruded and cut into pellets.
The picture: our drawing of the autoclave and the pellet line.
Advanced
A day
Instructions
1
1
Charge the autoclave
Charge the autoclave
Put two moles of nylon salt (525 g) and 0.02 mole of adipic acid (2.9 g) in a two-litre silver-lined autoclave with a stainless stirrer and a reflux condenser leading to a receiver.
Materials for this step:
Nylon Salt525 g
Adipic Acid2.9 gTools needed:
Pressure Reactor
Condenser Coil
Digital Kitchen Scale2
2
Drive out the air
Drive out the air
Evacuate, fill with nitrogen, evacuate again, then apply 80 lb/in² of nitrogen. Use nitrogen free of oxygen; oxygen spoils the polymer.
Tools needed:
Vacuum Pump
Nitrogen
Pressure Gauge3
3
Heat to 288 °C
Heat to 288 °C
Start the stirrer and heat to 288 °C over 1.5 hours.
Tools needed:
Pressure Reactor
Thermocouple with Readout4
4
Let the water off
Let the water off
Bring the pressure down to atmospheric over half an hour and keep heating and stirring 2.5 hours. Then pull to 200 mm absolute for a few minutes.
Tools needed:
Pressure ReactorVacuum PumpPressure GaugeThermocouple with Readout5
5
Cool and take out
Cool and take out
Cool. The polymer comes out as a white solid cake that melts at about 263 °C.
Tools needed:
Pressure Reactor6
6
Pelletise
Pelletise
Break up the cake (our step), melt it in the extruder, draw the strand and cut it into pellets.
Tools needed:
Plastic Extruder
Extrusion Die7
7
Grams and pressures
Grams and pressures
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Materials
2- 525 gPlaceholder
- 2.9 gPlaceholder
Tools Required
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