Significantly Enhanced Melt Memory Effect of Metallocene-made Isotactic Polypropylene Containing Talc

The melt memory effect is a widely observed phenomenon in semi-crystalline polymers. In practical applications, various additives are usually introduced into polymers, which may affect their melt memory behavior. In this work, the effect of talc on the melt memory effect of metallocene-made isotactic polypropylene(M-PP) was investigated in detail by using the differential scanning calorimetry. The results indicated that the introduction of talc significantly strengthened the melt memory effect of M-PP. Specifically, the upper limit temperature of Domain II increased from 161 ℃ to 174 ℃, resulting in a substantial widening of the temperature range of Domain IIa from 1 ℃ to 14 ℃. Analysis of the crystal orientation of the M-PP containing talc cooled from various Ts suggested that the remarkably enhanced melt memory effect could be ascribed to the stabilization of oriented nuclei facilitated by talc. This stabilizing effect was likely attributable to the prefreezing effect or the sorption interaction between talc and the M-PP chains.