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Influences of molecular weight on the non-isothermal crystallization and melting behavior of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene with different melt structures

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Abstract

Previous studies reported that by tuning the fusion temperature T f (i.e., controlling the melt structure), the β-nucleation efficiency of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene (β-iPP) can be greatly enhanced, which was called ordered structure effect (OSE). The aim of this study is to investigate the roles of melt structures and molecular weight in non-isothermal crystallization behavior of β-iPP. Five samples with different molecular weights were prepared, and their melt structures were controlled using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) by tuning T f (T f = 200 or 170 °C represent the case of without or with OSE, respectively). Results revealed that for all the samples, the lower the PP molecular weight, the lower the crystallization peak temperature T c, and the higher the activation energy ΔE, but the occurrence of OSE behavior (i.e., T f = 170 °C) can elevate T c, reduces ΔE and encourages crystallization. The decrease of PP molecular weight decreases β-phase proportion no matter OSE occurs or not; moreover, for PP with high molecular weight, OSE behavior not only enhances the β-phase proportion, but also increases the thermal stability of the β-phase; however, for samples with low molecular weight, OSE behavior enhances the β-phase proportion in a larger extent, and decreases the thermal stability of the β-phase. This study provided important understandings in the effect of OSE, cooling rate and PP molecular weight the β-crystallization of iPP.

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Acknowledgments

We express our sincerely thanks to the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC 51203106, 51503134) for the financial support.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Jian Kang, Feng Yang, Jinyao Chen, Ya Cao & Ming Xiang

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  1. Jian Kang
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Correspondence to Jinyao Chen.

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Kang, J., Yang, F., Chen, J. et al. Influences of molecular weight on the non-isothermal crystallization and melting behavior of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene with different melt structures. Polym. Bull. 74, 1461–1482 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-016-1784-2

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