TEXTURE AND CRYSTALLINITY EVOLUTION IN ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE INDUCED BY ROLLING AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

The orientation and crystallinity evolution of isotactic polypropylene （iPP） induced by rolling were studied using wide angle X-ray scattering with an area detector. The tensile mechanical properties of rolled isotactic polypropylene sheets were also measured in this work. The texture component method was used to analyze the rolling texture. The rolling texture consists mainly of （010）[001], （130）[001] and [001]//RD fiber components in the sample with a rolling true strain of 1.5. The results reveal that crystallinity drastically decreases during rolling. It is suggested that amorphization is a deformation mechanism which takes place as an alternative to crystallographic intralamellar slip depending on the orientation of the lamellae. Both the orientation and crystallinity affect the tensile mechanical properties of rolled polypropylene. Crystallinity influences the elastic modulus on both directions and yield strength on transverse direction at the first stage of deformation. Orientation is the main reason for the changes of mechanical properties, especially at the latter part of deformation. The changes of both tensile strength and elongation percentage on rolling direction are larger than those on transverse direction, which results from the orientation. At last, the anisotropic mechanical properties occur on the rolling and transverse direction： high tensile strength with low elongation percentage on rolling direction and low tensile strength with high elongation percentage on transverse direction.

PARTIAL MELTING AND RECRYSTALLIZATION OF ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE

A relatively high predetermined crystallization temperature （135℃） was chosen to grow well developed iPP spherulites, then the partial melting was carried out at a temperature of 165℃, where the preformed spherulites were seen to only decrease their size but not completely melted. The crystallization behavior of partially melted isotactic polypropylene （iPP） has been carefully examined by different scanning calorimetry （DSC） and polarized light microscopy （PLM）. The experimental results show that at a special annealing temperature （165℃） the melting behavior of iPP includes two parts with different mechanism, one part is the melting of iPP spherulite outside, another is the partial lamellae perfection during longer annealing time in the unmelted spherulite. The conformational orders of the iPP melt decrease with the increase of the annealing temperature.

Vibration-dependent Crystal Form of Isotactic Polypropylene under Nonisothermal Crystallization

A study concerning the effect of vibration on the crystal structure and morphology for isotactic polypropylene(iPP) was conducted. The crystallite size, crystal structure and crystallinity of iPP under or without vibration treatment were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction(WAXD). The results reveal that the crystallinity of the vibrated samples decreases at a high cooling rate, but it remains constant at a low cooling rate because of the chain relaxation of iPP. It has been found that vibration obviously increases the content of β-form of crystal phase and the amount of β-crystal mainly depends on the vibration amplitude.

Determination and Temperature Dependence of Plateau Modulus for Polymerization of Propylene to Isotactic Polypropylene with Ultra-high Molecular Weight under Catalysis of Ziegler-Natta Catalyst

The viscoelastic behavior of isotactic polypropylene with ultra-high molecular weight(UHPPH) and broad molecular weight distribution(MWD), produced in the presence of Ziegler-Natta catalyst, was investigated by means of oscillatory rheometry at 180 and 200 ℃, whose loss modulus(G″) plots at 180 and 200 ℃ versus the natural logarithm of angular frequency(ω) present a pronounced maximum at 34.35 and 69.21 rad/s, respectively, and do not show a maximum peak at 0.01-100 rad/s for Ziegler-Natta catalyzing ethylene-propylene random copolymerization(PPR) with a conventional molecular weight and broad MWD. The fact indicates that the high molecular weight is responsible for a maximum peak of G″(ω) vs. lnω curves for UHPPH. This makes it possible to determine the plateau modulus(G 0_N) of UHPPH from a certain experimental temperature G″(ω) curve directly. For UHPPH, the G 0_N determined to be 4.28×10 5 and 3.62×10 5 Pa at 180 and 200 ℃, respectively, decreases with the increase of temperature and is independent of the molecular weight, which directly confirms reputation theoretical prediction that the G 0_N has no relation to the molecular weight.

EPITAXIAL CRYSTALLIZATION OF POLY(ε-CAPROLACTONE)ON HIGHLY ORIENTED ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE

Electron microscope and electron diffraction have been used to study epitaxial crystallization of poly(ε-caprolactone)(PCL).on highly oriented film of isotactic polypropylene(iPP).The results obtained from bright field(BF)electron micrograph and electron diffraction indicate that the PCL can epitaxially grow on iPP substrate and form cross-hatched lamellar texture.The c axes of PCL are ±500 apart from the c axes of iPP. The contact planes of the two kinds of crystals are(010)of iPP and(100) of PCL,respectively.

The Synthesis of Isotactic Polypropylene with Spherical Morphology via Supported Metallocene Catalyst

Polymerization of propylene was carried out under bulk process at 70 degrees C using the supported metallocene catalyst with four kinds of SiO2 as carrier with triethylaluminum used as cocatalyst. The morphology of the products was studied by SEM. It was found the property of the carriers gave great effect on the fine structure of the products as well as the apperance.

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.

Direct Synthesis of Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Functionalized Isotactic Polypropylene

Ultrahigh molecular weight functionalized isotactic polypropylene(f-UHMW-iPP)through the direct copolymerization of propylene with polar monomers is highly desirable but has not been accessed thus far because it involves challenging regio-and stereochemistry along with usually reduced molecular weight.Herein,in contrast to the unsuccessful catalyst strategy,a polar monomer-assisted strategy is used to access the above material.The introduction of O-or S-functionalized long-chain polar olefins into the hafnium-catalyzed copolymerization of propylene(and bulkierα-olefins)significantly increases the copolymer molecular weight with a maximum observed increase of+488%.f-UHMW-iPP and functionalized isotactic poly(α-olefin)s(M_(w)>2000 kDa,[mmmm]:99%)are thus prepared at ambient conditions.The incorporation of 1 mol%of polar monomer improves the surface property and significantly increases the long-sought toughness(860%)of brittle iPP,without reducing the tensile strength(42 MPa)due to the key achievement of ultrahigh molecular weight.A discussion of the mechanism involved in the beneficial effects of incorporating the polar monomer is herein presented by an in-depth density functional theory calculation.

EFFECT OF FINAL HEATING TEMPERATURE ON CRYSTALLIZATION OF ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE NUCLEATED WITH AN ARYL AMIDE DERIVATIVE AS β-FORM NUCLEATING AGENT

An aryl dicarboxylic acid amide compound TMB-5 is an efficient β-form nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene （iPP）. Because of the solubility of TMB-5, superstructure and morphology of iPP crystals changed with melting conditions. Effects of final heating temperature （Tf） on heterogeneous nucleation of iPP/TMB-5 were investigated. It was discovered that the crystallization temperature increased with decreasing Tf value. The optical microscopic images indicated that when TMB-5 partially dissolved in iPP melt, the remaining （non-dissolved） TMB-5 facilitated the recrystallization of dissolved nucleating agent from the melt, which promoted crystallization. Complete solubility of nucleating agent caused the decreasing efficiency. TMB-5 recrystallized in the form of tiny needles, whose aggregates induced dendritic iPP crystals.

CRYSTALLIZATION BEHAVIOR AND MORPHOLOGY OF ONE-STEP REACTION COMPATIBILIZED MICROFIBRILLAR REINFORCED ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE/POLY(ETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE)(iPP/PET) BLENDS

One-step reaction compatibilized microfibrillar reinforced iPP/PET blends （CMRB） were successfully prepared through a ＂slit extrusion-hot stretching-quenching＂ process. Crystallization behavior and morphology of CMRB were systematically investigated. Scanning electronic microscopy （SEM） observations showed blurry interface of compatibilized common blend （CCB）. The crystallization behavior of neat iPP, CCB, microfibrillar reinforced iPP/PET blend （MRB） and CMRB was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and polarized optical microscopy （POM）. The increase of crystallization temperature and crystallization rate during nonisothermal crystallization process indicated both PET particles and mierofibrils could serve as nucleating agents and PET microfibrils exhibited higher heterogeneous nucleation ability, which were also vividly revealed by results of POM. Compared with MRB sample, CMRB sample has lower crystallization temperature due to existence of PET microfibrils with smaller aspect ratio and wider distribution. In addition, since in situ compatibilizer tends to stay in the interphase, it could also hinder the diffusion ofiPP molecules to the surface of PET phase, leading to decrease of crystallization rate. Two-dimensional wide-angle X-ray diffi：action （2D-WAXD） was preformed to characterize the crystalline structure of the samples by injection molding, and it was found that well-developed PET microfibrils contained in MRB sample promoted formation of t-phase of/PP.

Mechanistic Insights into the Shear Effects on Isotactic Polypropylene Crystallization Containingβ-Nucleating Agent

The crystalline structures and crystallization behaviors of iPP containing β nucleation agent TMB-5 （iPP/TMB-5） were investigated by synchrotron radiation wide angel X-ray diffraction （SR-WAXD）, differential scanning calorimeter （DSC） and polarized light microscope （PLM）. It was found that α-crystallization lagged behind β-crystallization at normal temperatures, but the discrepancy reduced with increasing temperature. TMB-5 could not induce β-iPP when the nucleation agent is wrapped up with α-crystal that crystallized at high temperatures. The polymorphic composition of iPP/TMB-5 was susceptible to the introductory moment of shear. New crystallization process of β-nucleated iPP was proposed to understand the experimental phenomena which could not be explained by those reported in the literature. It was supposed that polymer crystallization initiated from mesophase, and the formations of iPP crystals involved the organization of helical conformation ordering within rnesophase. It was proposed that the iPP melt contained mesophases with stereocomplex-type ordering of right-handed and left-handed helical chains which could be disturbed by shear or TMB-5, leading to different polymorphic structures.

Temperature-dependent β-Crystal Growth in Isotactic Polypropylene with β-Nucleating Agent after Shear Flow

In our current work, the effect of the shear temperature on the growth of β-crystal in isotactic polypropylene（iPP） with β-nucleating agent is investigated by means of in situ two-dimensional wide-angle X-ray diffraction（2 D-WAXD）. At low shear temperatures, the formed shear-induced oriented precursors are hard to relax back to random coiled state due to the weak mobility of molecular chains. Therefore, plenty of oriented α-crystals are induced by shear-induced oriented precursors, while β-crystal is greatly depressed. As the shear temperature increases, oriented β-crystal gradually increases along with the decrease of α-crystal. It is deduced that the shear temperature at which the content of β-crystal increases to the（maximum） value found in quiescent crystallization is almost the same as that at which the accelerating effect of flow on crystallization kinetics is completely erased. Our work manifests its significance in regulating β-crystal and thus in the structure and property manipulation of i PP.

Recent key developments in isotactic polypropylene in-reactor alloy and in-reactor nanocomposite technology

Alloying and nanocompositing are two most effective techniques by which isotactic polypropylene(iPP), one of the most promising polymers of the 21 st century, can be endowed with high performance for ever-demanding high-end applications. Thanks to the continuous advancement of catalyst technology, the technological trend for iPP alloy and nanocomposite fabrication has been projected to be in-reactor synthesis, the performance and economic advantages of which are beyond doubt. In this paper, we review two recent key developments in the iPP in-reactor alloy and in-reactor nanocomposite technology in our laboratory that will have profound influence on the continuing development of the prestigious iPP modification art. The first is the simultaneous EPR(ethylene-propylene random copolymer) cross-linking chemistry for controlling its physical growth pattern during in-reactor alloying, which helps to remove the compositional cap on EPR that so far greatly limits the iPP in-reactor alloying technique. The second is the nanofiller support fabrication strategy for simultaneously controlling both the phase morphology of the nanofiller dispersion and the polymer particle granule morphology of synthesized nanocomposites, which resolves the critical scale-up issue surrounding the iPP in-reactor nanocompositing technique. Based on these new developments, new advancements of iPP materials are envisaged.

Investigation on structural changes of isotactic polypropylene mesophase in the heating process by using two-dimensional infrared correlation spectroscopy

Two-dimensional FT-IR correlation spectroscopy was used to reveal the structural changes of isotactic polypropylene（iPP） mesophase during the heating process.The co-relationship among the regular helical bands of iPP was discussed according to synchronous spectrum.The results show that the segments with different length-helixes were found to undergo a disordered process in the temperature range of 25-60 ℃.

Advantage of Preserving Bi-orientation Structure of Isotactic Polypropylene through Die Drawing

The isotactic polypropylene(iPP) usually shows a unique parent-daughter lamellae structure in which the parent and daughter lamellae are against each other with a near perpendicular angle(80° or 100°). Inducing a high fraction of oriented cross-hatched structure in iPP during processing is desirable for designing the bi-oriented iPP products. We processed a commercial iPP via tensile-stretching and die-drawing to evaluate the structural evolution of oriented parent-daughter lamellae. It turned out that the die-drawing process had an advantage in attaining a high fraction of oriented cross-hatched structure of iPP, as compared to the free tensile stretching. Besides, the presence of α-nucleating agents affected the formation of oriented parent-daughter lamellae in the die-drawn samples whereas such influence diminished in the free stretched ones. It was found that the confined deformation inside the die led to the well-preserved oriented cross-hatched structure in the die-drawn iPP.

A REAL-TIME AFM STUDY ON CRYSTAL NUCLEATION AND GROWTH IN NANODROPLETS OF ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE

Isotactic polypropylene （iPP） nanodroplets were prepared by using the classical droplet method in this study. The formation of nanodroplets allowed the controlled observation of polymer nucleation as well as access to crystal growth at exceptionally high supercooling in /PP. Three cases including the heterogeneous nucleation and fast crystallization in iPP droplets, the formation of multiple independent homogeneous nuclei within a single droplet and a single nucleus within a single droplet were detected by using atomic force microscopy （AFM） during gradually cooling after remelting the nanodroplets. Moreover, it is found that when the volume of droplet is larger than the value of ca. 130000 nm3, the first case was observed. Otherwise, the latter two cases appeared. The temperature at which the onset of nucleation was observed in individual droplets was found to be mainly dependent on height of the droplets when the size scale of the droplet is comparable to the size of the critical nucleus in at least one dimension, which indicates the nucleation behavior under confinement.

Effect of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane and Sorbitol on Properties of Isotactic Polypropylene

Isotactic polypropylene（iPP） was modified by the introduction of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes（POSS） and 1,3：2,4-bis（3,4-dimethylbenzylidene）sorbitol（DMDBS）. Chemical combination of （3-mercapto）- propyl-heptaisobutyl POSS with DMDBS（POSS-DMDBS）, and physical mixing of DMDBS with octaisobutyl POSS （iso-POSS/DMDBS） or trisilanolisobutyl POSS（tri-POSS/DMDBS） were applied respectively to modifying iPP, and the effects of POSS and DMDBS on crystallization, rheological and mechanical properties of iPP were systematically investigated. The results indicate that iso-POSS/DMDBS and tri-POSS/DMDBS were more effective than POSS-DMDBS on the improvement of the crystallization behavior of iPP due to the higher crystallization temperature, while the crystal!inity of iPP containing POSS-DMDBS was enhanced, approximately approached to that of iPP containing tri-POSS/DMDBS. The tensile strength of iPP with POSS-DMDBS was significantly increased from 34 MPa to 40 MPa, as high as that of iPP with iso-POSS/DMDBS. The different effects caused by the specific interaction between POSS and DMDBS could possibly be applied in the modification of iPP.

High Efficieney Synthesis of Isotaetie Polypropylene and Linear Polyethylene Using a New C_2-symmetric Carbon-bridged Zirconocene Catalyst

Ansa-Cyclohexyl-bis（4,5,6,7-tertrahydro-l-indenyl） zirconium dichloride （5） was used as catalyst for propylene and ethylene polymerization together with methyl aluminoxane （MAO） as the cocatalyst. Isotactic polypropylene （PP） was obtained with the highest activity of 6.37× 107g PP （molZr）^-1h^-1. The mesomeso （mmmmm） pentads sequence content of PP was determined by 13C NMR spectroscopy. The dependence of the microstructure on the reaction temperature and the AI/Zr molar ratio was examined and the catalytic activity of complex 5 was compared with that of the similar ansa-zirconocene 3. The high activity of the new zirconocene 5 for propylene isospectic polymerization at high temperature （60℃） is the result of its unique bridged-group structure. Complex 5/MAO displays also high catalytic activity of 0.46× 10^6 to 9.87× 10^6g PE（molZr）^-h^-in the homo-polymerization of ethylene, The visometric molecular weight of PE ranges from 0.97×10^4 to 11.16×10^4 g.mol^- under the given conditions.^13C NMR spectroscopy analysis proves the PE to be linear polyethylene （LPE）.

Experiment and simulation of foaming injection molding of polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate composites by supercritical carbon dioxide

Microcellular injection molding of neat isotactic polypropylene(iPP) and isotactic polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate composites(i PP/nano-CaCO_3) was performed using supercritical carbon dioxide as the physical blowing agent. The influences of filler content and operating conditions on microstructure morphology of i PP and i PP/nano-CaCO_3 microcellular samples were studied systematically. The results showed the bubble size of the microcellular samples could be effectively decreased while the cell density increased for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, especially at high CO_2 concentration and back pressure, low mold temperature and injection speed, and high filler content. Then Moldex 3D was applied to simulate the microcellular injection molding process, with the application of the measured ScCO_2 solubility and diffusion data for i PP and i PP/nano-Ca CO_3 composites respectively. For neat i PP, the simulated bubble size and density distribution in the center section of tensile bars showed a good agreement with the experimental values. However, for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, the correction factor for nucleation activation energy F and the pre-exponential factor of nucleation rate f_0 were obtained by nonlinear regression on the experimental bubble size and density distribution. The parameters F and f_0 can be used to predict the microcellular injection molding process for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites by Moldex 3D.

Preparation of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polypropylene Using Ziegler-Natta Catalyst via Combining Internal Electron Donor and Cocatalyst Loading

Due to the development of the new energy industry,polypropylene with ultra-high molecular weight plays a crucial role for battery isolation membrane.This work investigated the effect of internal electron donor of Ziegler-Natta catalyst system on the molecular weight of the obtained polypropylene.The scanning electron microscope(SEM)and Canon camera were used to characterize the surface morphologies of catalyst particles and polymer particles,respectively.Compared with the polypropylene particles featuring a spherical shape,these study results confirmed that the morphology duplication theory from the catalyst particle to the morphology of polymer particle was exhibited.The gel permeation chromatography(GPC)results revealed that the obtained polypropylene has a much higher average molecular weight than those prepared by conventional method.The Fourier transform infrared spectrometry(FT-IR)and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)revealed that the carbonyl oxygen atom on ester group was preferentially bound to Mg and Ti,as compared to the ether oxygen atom.The XPS results showed that the ratio of Ti^(3+)/Ti^(4+)could be changed by internal electron donors.When Ti3+content was nearly 99%in the Ziegler-Natta catalyst system,isotactic polypropylene with an ultra-high molecular weight of up to 1.42×10^(6)g/mol was obtained by Cat.3.This result implied that internal electron donor ID3 could reduce theβ-hydride elimination reaction to further increase the molecular weight of the obtained polymer.