Influence ofβ-nucleating Compound Agents on the Mechanical Properties and Crystallization Behavior of Polypropylene Random Copolymer

A novel polypropylene random(PPR)composite materials with optimized properties was developed by addingβ-nucleating compound agents(rare earth complex WBG-2 and aryl amide derivative TMB-5)and ternary compound modifier(TPE/WBG-2/CaCO_(3)).The effects of differentβ-nucleating agents and ternary compound modifier on the mechanical properties and crystallization behavior of PPR were analyzed.The results show that,compared with pure PPR materials,both WBG-2 and TMB-5 could significantly improve the impact strength of PPR.The crystallization temperature of PPR increased with the addition ofβ-nucleating agent.The modified PPR prepared with ternary compound modifier showed the most excellent comprehensive properties.

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.

Simultaneous Enhancement of Toughness and Strength of Stretched iPP Film via Tiny Amount of β-Nucleating Agent under “Shear-free” Melt-extrusion

Herein,isotactic polypropylene films with smallβ-nucleating agent content were fabricated via a melt-extrusion-stretched technology with intended"shear-free"in barrel and die.Compared with neat films,the tensile strength,elongation at break and strain energy density at break of i PP film with 0.05 wt%β-nucleating agent are significantly improved by 13.8%,39.6%and 90.6%,respectively,indicating the simultaneously enhanced toughness and strength.Additionally,theβ-crystal content gradually increases with increasingβ-NA content,while the relative total daughter content ofα-andβ-crystal exhibits opposite tendency.Moreover,nucleation and crystal growth induced by variousβ-NA contents are different.This work proves an efficient strategy to enhance mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene film via controlling elongation flow and addition of appropriateβ-NA content.

CRYSTALLIZATION CHARACTERISTICS OF β-PHASE CRYSTALS IN COPOLYMERS OF POLYPROPYLENE WITH LOW ETHYLENE CONTENT

Polypropylene copolymers (CPP) containing β-nucleating agent were investigated by differential scanningcalorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and polarizing light microscopy (PLM). The results show thathigh content of β-phase crystals can also be formed for CPPs. Like PP homopolymers, the CPPs also have a most favorabletemperature near 132℃ for β-phase crystal growth. The crystallization rate of CPPs containing β-nucleating agent (β-CPP) ismuch greater than that of PP homopolymer containing β-nucleating agent (β-PP homopolymer). The observation ofspherulite morphology of β-CPP and β-PP homopolymer shows that the spherulites of β-CPP are more imperfect than thoseof β-PP homopolymer.

Effect of Annealing Temperature on Low-temperature Toughness of β-Nucleated Polypropylene Random Copolymer/Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Terpolymer Blends

In this study, the effect of annealing temperature on the impact toughness of β-nucleated polypropylene random copolymer（PPR） and ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer（EPDM） blends was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）, wide-angle X-ray diffraction（WAXD）, dynamic mechanical analysis（DMA） and scanning electron microscopy（SEM）. Interestingly, the impact strength of β-PPR/20 EPDM blend annealed at 120 ℃ is 1.8 times as high as that of unannealed samples. In addition, the crystalline structure, the relaxation of chain segments and fracture morphology of β-PPR/EPDM blends were also investigated to explore the toughening mechanism related to annealing. The results show that annealing at moderate temperatures results in the improvement of integrity of the crystal structure and the relative content of β-phase. The work provides a possible method to toughen the semicrystalline polymer at low temperatures by annealing.

Morphology, Crystallization Behavior and Tensile Properties of β-Nucleated Isotactic Polypropylene Fibrous Membranes Prepared by Melt Electrospinning

β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene （iPP） fibers with diameters less than 5 Hm were prepared through melt electrospinning. The effects of electrospiuning process and rare earth β-nucleating agent （WBG） on the crystal structure of iPP fibers were investigated. The results indicate that the addition of WBG can improve the fluidity of iPP melt remarkably and help the formation of fine fibers with thinner diameter, while the electrostatic force applied on the iPP melt is not favorable for the formation of β-crystal in iPP fibers. In addition, the morphology and crystalline structure of WBG/iPP electrospun fibers depended on the content of WBG. Both the crystallinity and the percentage of β-crystal form of WBG/iPP electrospun fibers increase with the rise of the content of nucleating agent, which endows the prepared electrospun fibers excellent mechanical properties. The β-nucleated iPP electrospun fibrous membranes prepared in this study can be used for protective clothing material, filtration media, reinforcement for composites and tissue engineering scaffolds.