Mechanical Characterization and Selection of Polyamide Nano-Composites Subjected to Sea water Environment in Marine Applications

Though many studies have been conducted on thermoplastic matrix polymer composites in the past, marine applications have been found only during the recent times. In this paper, an attempt has been made to prepare polyamide 6 (PA-6) nano-composites reinforced with varying amounts (1 wt%, 3 wt% and 5 wt%) of montmorillonite (MMT) using twin-screw extruder mixed technique and then studied its mechanical characterization under sea water environment. The characteristics of the proposed composites are compared with some of the other polymer composites for the same purpose and are reported in the literature. Further, a decision-making methodology developed by using analytic hierarchy process (AHP), entropy weighting method and TOPSIS (Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution) have been adopted to find the rank order of the composites suitable for marine applications. The outcome of the study disclosed that the proposed polymer-nanocomposite reinforced with 3% MMT is more competent to other composites in view of attaining the objective of the study.