Interfacial

Polycondensation
of Nylon 6, 10;
Modified Nylon
Rope Trick
Mentored by:
Dr. Santosh K. Gupta,
FASc, FNASc, FNAE
Distinguished Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
UPES, Dehradun

2013-14

2013-14
Mentee:
Chinmay Verma
Nayan Kale
Rhythm Agarwal
Shivam Ashok Dixit

Interfacial Polycondensation of Nylon 6, 10; Modified Nylon Rope Trick

Introduction
As per out project titled Interfacial Polycondensation of Nylon 6, 10, we were assigned to perform
nylon rope trick on laboratory scale. The reaction was carried out successfully in the laboratory.
After that, a mechanism for commercial use was designed and later fabricated by our team of four
people. This is completely designed independently under the guidance of Dr. S.K. Gupta. The details
of the project follows.

Materials Required:

Beakers 3 glass beakers of 100 ml capacity

Capillary tubes
Valves
Wooden plank -6 x 3
Adhesives - Fevicol, Araldite, M-seal
Thread
Motors
Galvanised Iron Rods
Thermocol

Chemicals Required:

Sebacoyl Chloride
Hexamethylene Diamine
NaOH
Hexane
Pure water

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING| UPES

Interfacial Polycondensation of Nylon 6, 10; Modified Nylon Rope Trick

Basic Design Specifications:

1. The Reactor

Total Volume: 250 ml

Area of circular cross section: 33.3 cm2
Height of the vessel: 9 cm

2. Storage tanks

Total no. of tanks: 2

Total Volume: 100 ml
Height at which tanks are kept: 60 cm
Distance from the reactor: 26 cm
Type: Open roof tanks

3. Connecting tubing

Diameter of the pipe: 1.8 cm

Length of pipe: 33 cm
Positioning of pipe 1 connected to tank 1: Glued with Araldite adhesive along the wall
from top
Positioning of pipe 2 connected to tank 2: Free-end
Connected with tanks via Ball valves.

4. Motors

Critical speed of motors: 60 rpm

Placed parallel to each other at a distance of 11 cm
Height of motors: 17 cm
Contains extended shaft of GI type of 10 cm
Motor 1: Placed directly over the reactor for winding the Nylon 6, 10
Motor 2: Placed parallel to the motor 1 attached with a hook and rope to draw the
polymer out to motor 1
Connected to power supply with the help of adapters

5. Base

3 ft x 3 ft
Type: plywood

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING| UPES

Interfacial Polycondensation of Nylon 6, 10; Modified Nylon Rope Trick

Challenges and Combat:

Production of Nylon 6, 10 by the phenomenon of Interfacial polycondensation using Sebacoyl
Chloride is not done commercially and is just done on a lab scale. Also, it has no automated system to
draw the polymer out of the reactor.
Thus, in this model we have made an attempt to automatize the entire mechanism of producing and
drawing the polymer successfully exhibiting the advanced version of Nylon- rope trick.

Explanation of the design made:

Here, we have optimized the design so as to make it a continuous process.
To make the design more scientific we shall add 2 more reactant vessels. One for storing
hexa methylene di-amine, and other for sebacoyl chloride. These shall be raised to a height in
such a way that the reactants flow to the main reactor vessel under the action of gravitational
force.
Two of the containers are connected by a tubing system to the main reactor. Control valves
are attached so as to control the flow rate of respective fluids.
Two motors are now used instead of one, the first one drives the hook and the other motor
spindles the polymer fiber around the spool attached to it.
Actually the hook passes over the motor 2 spool and goes into the reactor. As the process of
extraction starts and the polymer end reaches the rod, the hook is detached from the fiber
from where on it is collected over this rotating rod. After the required length is extracted this
motor is stopped and the hook is once again sent into the vessel. By repeating the process
extraction is carried out in such a way that we get equal lenghts of extracted polymer over a
bobbin or a wheel.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING| UPES

Interfacial Polycondensation of Nylon 6, 10; Modified Nylon Rope Trick

Observations, Experiences and Precautions:

The polymer was withdrawn with the help of the two motors. The rotation per minute (RPM)
of different motors were checked and we observed the following :

Motor

Observation

Geared Motor -200 rpm

Was too fast to draw out the polymer.

Geared Motor -100 rpm

Extensive breakage of the polymer.

Swing Motor

Too slow for withdrawal.

Geared Motor -60 rpm

Withdrawal rate was adequate.

Hook:
Different hook designs were used to withdraw the polymer properly
and for optimization.
1. Safety pin
Reason for usage: because of the pointed needle and smaller
size
Reason for rejection: Lightweight not able to penetrate the
film

2. Curtain hook
Reason for usage: The hook shape may prove to be useful
Reason for rejection: too large in size

3. Nail
Reason for usage: heavy weight
Reason for rejection: small head
4. Screw(final)
Reason for usage: Threads and larger head

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING| UPES

Interfacial Polycondensation of Nylon 6, 10; Modified Nylon Rope Trick

Reactor walls:
Earlier we faced a problem of polymer sticking to the walls of the reactor due to which the
drawing out mechanism became cumbersome. For this we used various materials like oil on
the wall surface or grease and even cello taping. But none of the materials worked as
expected and thus we came to the conclusion to reduce the concentration of reactants and
finally our problem was solved.

Material of the beaker:

We used different materials and it was concluded that plastic beakers must not be used as
they dont allow the film to form properly and instead glass beakers must be preferred for the
reaction as well as the storage purpose.

Financials of the project

Hexamethane diamine Rs. 337/Sebacoyl Chloride- Rs. 2722/Motors: Rs. 1020/Plyboard: Rs. 580/Beakers: Rs. 1170/Valves and tubing: Rs. 100/Adhesives: Rs. 300/Paint: Rs. 180/Miscellaneous: Rs. 1100/Total: Rs. 7509/-

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING| UPES

Interfacial Polycondensation of Nylon 6, 10; Modified Nylon Rope Trick

Further Optimizations possible

To duplicate the basic design, several optimizations have to be made to make the process
industrially acceptable. Some of the optimization techniques which can prove to be useful
are:
1. Creating further design where polymer automatically gets removed from the shaft and
goes to a tank containing a basic solution for neutralization of the acidic nature and
then subsequent washing
2. We can use floating roof storage tanks as the reactants are volatile. Thus, we can
control the fumes coming out of the reactant.
3. Usage of a threaded shaft for efficient removal of rotating bobbins on which polymer
is wound.
4. Applying computerized control system for controlling the flow rate, removal of
polymer, drawing, washing etc.
5. H bridge controllers to be used for controlling motor speed and direction.

Conclusions
Our team of four people have made the best efforts to make an innovative approach to perform this
experiment and optimize it for industry usage. We would like to suggest that it is an extremely
sensitive reaction and thus must be carried out with great caution.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING| UPES