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Evaluation of polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride and styrene as a compatibilizer for polypropylene/clay nanocomposites

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Abstract

Among modified Poly(propylene)s (PPs) grafted with polar monomers, PP grafted with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MAH) is known to be the most efficient compatibilizer for PP/clay nanocomposites, since it provides well-dispersed nanostructures and yields optimal physical properties of the nanocomposites. One drawback of this material, however, is that it becomes brittle and its viscosity decreases drastically, leading to nanocomposites with low toughness as the graft degree of MAH increases. Therefore, there is a limitation to increasing both stiffness and toughness of PP/clay nanocomposites with PP-g-MAH. In this study, we investigated the performance of a PP grafted with maleic anhydride and styrene (PP-g-MAH-St) as compatibilizers in PP/clay nanocomposites. It was found that the incorporation of styrene as a comonomer prevents molecular weight reduction of the PP main chain upon high loading of a radical initiator for high graft degree of MAH. The compatibilizers (PP-g-MAH-St) thus obtained show good compatibilizing performance in PP/clay nanocomposites. The PP/clay nanocomposites compatibilized by PP-g-MAH-St show both high stiffness and toughness, which is accomplished by using a compatibilizer of higher viscosity compared with PP-g-MAH.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Grant number: 2010-0022397). This study was also supported by a grant from the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (The Regional Core Research Program/Zero Energy Green Village Technology Center).

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  1. Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Kongju National University, Cheonan, Chungnam, 331717, South Korea

    Jiseon Lee, Jin Kwang Kim & Younggon Son

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  1. Jiseon Lee
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  2. Jin Kwang Kim
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  3. Younggon Son
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Correspondence to Younggon Son.

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Lee, J., Kim, J.K. & Son, Y. Evaluation of polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride and styrene as a compatibilizer for polypropylene/clay nanocomposites. Polym. Bull. 68, 541–551 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-011-0642-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-011-0642-5

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