Frontiers of Chemical Engineering in China

, Volume 2, Issue 3, pp 236–241 | Cite as

Phenolic rigid organic filler/isotactic polypropylene composites. I. Preparation

  • Dongming Qi
  • Lei Yang
  • Minghua Wu
  • Heming Lin
  • Kohhei Nitta
Research Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

A novel phenolic rigid organic filler (KT) was melt-mixed with an isotactic polypropylene (iPP) to prepare a series of PP/KT composites, with or without maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) as compatilizer. The evolution of filler morphology during melt-mixing and melt-pressure processes was monitored by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and polarized optical microscope (POM). The influences of shear force, pressure time, filler content and MAPP concentration on the final filler dispersion were studied. We found that this rigid organic filler readily melted and dispersed homogenously into the iPP matrix through a fission-fusion process during the melt-mixing process. Thus a balanced dispersion, which was closely related to shear force and MAPP concentration, can be achieved. During the meltpressure process, parts of the filler particles combined gradually through a coalescence process. However, the incorporation of MAPP can effectively inhibit the tendency to coalesce and refine the filler particles sizes into nanoscale. Thus, a series of PP/KT composites with controllable filler particles size and narrow size distribution can be obtained just by adjusting process conditions and MAPP concentration. In addition, due to the in-situ formation mechanism, the filler phase possessed a typical solid true-spherical shape.

Keywords

rigid organic filler polypropylene dispersion in-situ formation 
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Copyright information

© Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dongming Qi
    • 1
    • 2
  • Lei Yang
    • 1
  • Minghua Wu
    • 1
  • Heming Lin
    • 1
  • Kohhei Nitta
    • 2
  1. 1.Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of EducationZhejiang Sci-Tech UniversityHangzhouChina
  2. 2.Graduate School of Natural Science & TechnologyKanazawa UniversityKanazawa, IshikawaJapan

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