Critical Role of Ethylene-Propylene Block Copolymer in Impact Polypropylene Copolymer

Ethylene-propylene block copolymer(EbP) is a vital component in impact polypropylene copolymer(IPC), yet its distribution in the multiphase composite material and how it influences the phase structure and the mechanical properties are not well understood. In this work,four IPCs were investigated by atomic force microscopy-infrared(AFM-IR) to assess the phase compositions in situ, based on which in conjunction with the chain microstructure information obtained ex situ the distributions of the copolymer components were derived for each alloy. For the IPCs whose EbP comprises long P and long E segments, the EbP fraction was found to phase separate from the rubber and the PP matrix to form the cores of the disperse particles with the E-P segmented copolymer(EsP). In contrast, in the IPC with EbP composed of long P and short E segments, the EbP fraction formed an outer shell for the rubber particles with the cores comprising the EsP alone, and this IPC, containing a lower E comonomer content than its counterpart, exhibited both better impact resistance and higher flexural modulus. These results clarify how the chain structure of EbP governs the phase morphology in IPC, which in turn impacts the properties of the composite material.

CHARACTERIZATION OF IMPACT POLYPROPYLENE COPOLYMERS BY SOLVENT FRACTIONATION

The compositional heterogeneity of two impact polypropylene copolymers（IPCs） was studied by a combinatory investigation of temperature rising elution fractionation（TREF） and solvent fractionation.The chain structures and composition of fractions obtained from solvent fractionation were examined in detail.The TREF results shows that there are much more E-P segmented copolymer and more uniform distribution of ethylene sequence in IPC-1,which is responsible for its better comprehensive mechanical performance.The fractions from hexane and heptane are ethylene-propylene rubber phase and E-P block copolymers respectively.The result of solvent fractionation method also shows that custom hexane or heptane extractions can not extract the E-P copolymer completely.

INFLUENCE OF SHEARING ON IMPACT POLYPROPYLENE COPOLYMER:PHASE MORPHOLOGY,THERMAL AND RHEOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR

The influences of shearing conducted by a Brabender behavior of a commercial impact polypropylene copolymer （IPC） rheometer on phase morphology, thermal and rheological were studied. The crystallization and melting traces show that short-time annealing at 210℃ is unable to completely erase the influence of shearing on the samples. When the samples which were treated at a rotation speed of 80 r/rnin crystallize at a cooling rate of 10 K/min, their Tcs and corresponding Tms obviously rise with the increase of shearing time. Furthermore, the POM results reveal that the shearing can lead to the formation of shish-kebab and the shish-kebab amount is proportional to shearing time. The rheological measurement results show that the treated samples exhibit different G＇-ω dependences. The ＇second plateau＇ appears when the sample is treated at a rotation speed of 60 r/min or 80 r/min for 10 min, and linear G＇-ω dependence is observed at other rotation speeds. In addition, it is found that the appearance of the ＇second plateau＇ depends on the shearing time when the rotation speed is fixed. According to SEM observations, it is proposed that the ＇second plateau＇ of IPC samples should be ascribed to the aggregation of dispersion particles.

Reconstruction of Core-Shell Dispersed Particles in Impact Polypropylene Copolymer during Extrusion

We reported an approach to reconstruct the complex phase morphology of impact polypropylene copolymer （IPC） with core-shell dispersed particles and to optimize its toughness in approximate shear condition. The molten-state annealing results indicate that the phase structure with core-shell dispersed particles is unstable and could be completely destroyed by static annealing, resulting in the degradation of impact strength. By using a co-rotating twin screw extruder, we found that the dispersed particle with core-shell structure could be rebuilt in appropriate condition with the recovery of excellent impact strength due to both the huge interfacial tension during solidification and the great difference in viscosity of components. Results reveal that almost all the extruded IPCs show the impact strength 60%-90% higher than that of annealed IPCs at room temperature. And the twice-extruded IPC shows the highest impact strength, 446% higher than that of IPC annealed for 30 min. As for low temperature tests, the impact strength of extruded IPCs also increases by 33%-58%. According to adjusting the processing conditions including extrusion speed, extrusion frequency and temperature, an optimization of toughness was well established.

Microstructure, morphology, crystallization and rheological behavior of impact polypropylene copolymer

Impact polypropylene copolymer (IPC), named polypropylene catalloy, not only possesses excellent impact property, but also presents good rigidity. Its superior performances result from the complicated composition and microstructure. In the present article, recent progress in the studies on microstructure, morphology, crystallization and rheological behavior of IPC is summarized, and findings of the authors and their collaborators are reported. In general, IPC is divided into three components, i.e., ethylene-propylene random copolymer (EPR), a series of different segment lengths ethylene-propylene copolymer (EbP) and propylene homopolymer. The reasonable macromolecular structures of EbP and a multilayered core-shell model of dispersed phase structure in IPC were proposed, in which the dispersed phase consists of an outer EbP shell, an inner EPR layer and an EbP core. It is found that the annealing at melt-state may lead to an abnormal phase inversion, and the phase inversion disappears when temperature cools down to room temperature. The cause of phase inversion is ascribed to the existence of EbP component, which results in the stronger activity of the dispersed phase. The crystalline structure and morphologic results confirm the formation of β-iPP in IPC. Furthermore, it is found that the ethylene content in IPC and cooling rate of the samples have an important influence on the formation of β-iPP. Based on the crystallization kinetics analyzed by Lauritzen-Hoffman theory, crystallization behavior of different IPC samples is discussed and it is proposed that the dilution effect of ethylene propylene copolymer has a more remarkable influence on surface nucleation than on crystal growth. In addition, annealing at high temperature can result in the changes of chain structure for IPC, and this instability is ascribed to the oxidative degradation and crosslink reaction mainly in iPP component.

Annealing Induced Microstructure and Mechanical Property Changes of Impact Resistant Polypropylene Copolymer

The effects of annealing on microstructure and mechanical properties of an impact resistant polypropylene copolymer （IPC） were investigated. Different annealing temperatures ranging from 80 ℃ to 160 ℃ were selected. The phase reorganization of IPC during annealing process was studied through morphological characterization technologies, including scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The crystalline structure changes in the IPC sample, including the iPP matrix and PE component, were investigated using wide angle X-ray diffraction （WAXD） and differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）. Dynamic mechanical analysis （DMA） was used to analyze the relaxation extent of 1PC before and after annealing. The results showed that annealing induced phase reorganization in IPC and the degree of phase reorganization depended on annealing temperature. The annealed IPC samples exhibited largely increased crystallinity compared with the unannealed one. Intensified damping peak with increased molecular chain mobility was achieved for the annealed IPC samples. At an appropriate annealing tem. perature （140 ℃）, largely enhanced impact strength was achieved for the annealed IPC sample. The toughening mechanisms were analyzed based on the phase reorganization and relaxation behavior.