AbstractThe chemical reactions occurring in the melt mixing of nylon6/polycarbonate (Ny6/PC) at 240°C were investigated. The reaction of equimolar Ny6/PC blends can be reconciled within the overall scheme of an exchange reaction occurring with the attack of active amino terminals on the inner carbonate groups. We have performed the synthesis of low molecular weight amino‐terminated nylon 6 and the effect of the active amino terminal groups on the exchange kinetics was investigated. The exchange reaction yields sizeable amounts of copolymer, in fact after 75 min of melt mixing the (initially equimolar) blend contains 30 mol of unreacted PC and 70 mol of Ny6/PC copolymer (all the Ny6 was therefore incorporated in the copolymer). Trifluoroacetylation of nylon 6 was used to produce CHCl3‐soluble Ny6/PC copolymers, that could be analyzed by NMR. The NMR analysis yielded, beside the copolymer composition, evidence of the presence of urethane units interconnecting the Ny6 and PC blocks. The amount of urethane units increased with the reaction time, indicating a reduction of the block size as a function of the extent of exchange. Our study established the structure of the products formed, provided the materials balance of the process, and investigated some salient kinetic aspects. A thermal degradation study was also performed by thermogravimetry and direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry, to identify the products formed in the thermal treatment of the blends and to investigate the possible role of the inner amide groups in the intermolecular exchange reactions occurring between Ny6 and PC. Our results prove that these reactions occur above 300°C, and that only the cleavage of carbonate groups, by means of Ny6 amino end groups, is actually occurring at 240°C. © 1994 John Wiley&So