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Effect of polyacrylic salt nucleating agents on the properties of isotactic polypropylene

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Abstract

A series of polyacrylic salts are used as nucleating agents in isotactic polypropylene (iPP). Investigations are done on the mechanical characteristics, crystallization behavior, and melting behavior of nucleated iPP. According to the result from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the temperature at which nucleated iPP crystallize was 3–5 °C higher than the temperature at which pure iPP. Meanwhile, zinc polyacrylate, potassium polyacrylate, and sodium polyacrylate have the ability to induce β-crystals in iPP, according to wide-angle X-ray diffraction data. The optical microscope observation combined with DSC results shows that potassium polyacrylate had a β-nucleation effect when it had a lamellar crystal structure. When compared to pure iPP, the impact strength of iPP nucleated with sodium polyacrylate or potassium polyacrylate is improved by 23.48% and 24.35%, respectively. According to the mechanical properties results, there is no significant change in the tensile strength and flexural modulus of nucleated iPP with sodium polyacrylate and potassium polyacrylate. Without compromising its stiffness, sodium polyacrylate or potassium polyacrylate can increase the toughness of nucleated iPP.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the China National Key R&D Program (No. 2022YFB2602605), Natural Science Foundation of Changsha (No. kq2202184), Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Department (No. 2021GK5007), and Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry (No. 2022XBHX08).

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  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials Protection for Electric Power and Transportation & Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Cytochemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410114, China

    Sheng Nie, Jin-Rong Zhong, Yan Li & Yue-Fei Zhang

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  1. Sheng Nie
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Nie, S., Zhong, JR., Li, Y. et al. Effect of polyacrylic salt nucleating agents on the properties of isotactic polypropylene. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 6097–6106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12154-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12154-9

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