Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) filled with electrospun nylon fibres: A model for a facile composite fabrication

Electrospun fibres are very rarely used as reinforcing agents in polymer-based composites. A fabrication approach is presented that allows to easily prepare composites based on polycaprolactone (PCL) filled with nylon 6 electrospun fibres by compression moulding. At very low filler contents (3%), the obtained composites exhibited improved stiffness with a simultaneous increase in ductility, differently from what is usually found in PCL nanocomposites with a variety of fillers, in which increases in modulus happen at the expense of elongation at break. The presence of fibres with a very small diameter, typical of the products of electrospinning, favoured a good interfacial adhesion between matrix and filler. Being of a similar order of magnitude than polymer lamellae, electrospun fibres can be used to shape the morphology of lamellar stacks, and therefore the final properties of the composites.