PA6 Polyamide 6 or Nylon 6？

Typical Applications:

Due to its excellent mechanical strength and stiffness, it is widely used for structural components. Also used for bearing manufacturing due to its good wear resistance characteristics.

Injection Mold Process Conditions:

Drying Treatment:

Due to the high water absorption of PA6, special attention should be paid to drying before processing. If the material is supplied in waterproof packaging, the container should be kept airtight. If the humidity is greater than 0.2%, it is recommended to dry in hot air above 80°C for 16 hours. If the material has been exposed to air for more than 8 hours, it is recommended to vacuum dry at 105°C for over 8 hours.

Melting Temperature:

230-280°C, for reinforced varieties it is 250-280°C.

Mold Temperature:

80-90°C. Mold temperature significantly affects crystallinity, which in turn affects the mechanical properties of the molded parts. Crystallinity is important for structural components, so mold temperature is recommended to be 80-90°C. For thin-walled, long-flow parts, higher mold temperatures are also recommended. Increasing mold temperature can increase the strength and stiffness of the parts but reduces toughness. If the wall thickness is greater than 3mm, it is recommended to use a low mold temperature of 20~40°C. For glass-reinforced materials, the mold temperature should be above 80°C.

Injection Pressure:

Generally between 750~1250 bar (depending on the material and product design).

Injection Speed:

High speed (slightly lower for reinforced materials).

Runner and Gate:

Due to the short solidification time of PA6, gate location is crucial. Gate aperture should not be less than 0.5*t (where t is the thickness of the molded part). If using hot runners, gate size should be slightly smaller than with conventional runners because hot runners can help prevent premature solidification of the material. If using a submarine gate, the minimum diameter of the gate should be 0.75mm.

Chemical and Physical Characteristics:

The chemical and physical characteristics of PA6 are similar to PA66; however, its melting point is lower, and its processing temperature range is wider. Its impact resistance and solvent resistance are better than PA66, but it has higher moisture absorption. Since many quality characteristics of molded parts are influenced by moisture absorption, this should be taken into consideration when designing products with PA6. Various modifiers are often added to improve the mechanical properties of PA6. Glass is the most common additive, and sometimes synthetic rubbers such as EPDM and SBR are added to improve impact resistance. For products without additives, the shrinkage rate of PA6 is between 1% and 1.5%. Adding glass fiber additives can reduce the shrinkage rate to 0.3% (but slightly higher in the direction perpendicular to the flow). The shrinkage rate of molded assemblies is mainly affected by material crystallinity and moisture absorption. The actual shrinkage rate is also a function of part design, wall thickness, and other process parameters.