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Critical Role of Ethylene-Propylene Block Copolymer in Impact Polypropylene Copolymer

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Abstract

Ethylene-propylene block copolymer (EbP) is a vital component in impact polypropylene copolymer (IPC), yet its distribution in the multiphase composite material and how it influences the phase structure and the mechanical properties are not well understood. In this work, four IPCs were investigated by atomic force microscopy-infrared (AFM-IR) to assess the phase compositions in situ, based on which in conjunction with the chain microstructure information obtained ex situ the distributions of the copolymer components were derived for each alloy. For the IPCs whose EbP comprises long P and long E segments, the EbP fraction was found to phase separate from the rubber and the PP matrix to form the cores of the disperse particles with the E-P segmented copolymer (EsP). In contrast, in the IPC with EbP composed of long P and short E segments, the EbP fraction formed an outer shell for the rubber particles with the cores comprising the EsP alone, and this IPC, containing a lower E comonomer content than its counterpart, exhibited both better impact resistance and higher flexural modulus. These results clarify how the chain structure of EbP governs the phase morphology in IPC, which in turn impacts the properties of the composite material.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52073277) and the Science and Technology Department of Fujian Province (No. 2020HZ06019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China

    Yu-Hui Tang, Na Zhang, Wei Bao, Wei Jiang, Yuan Lin & Zhao-Hui Su

  2. School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Yu-Hui Tang, Na Zhang, Wei Bao, Wei Jiang & Zhao-Hui Su

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  1. Yu-Hui Tang
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Correspondence to Zhao-Hui Su.

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Tang, YH., Zhang, N., Bao, W. et al. Critical Role of Ethylene-Propylene Block Copolymer in Impact Polypropylene Copolymer. Chin J Polym Sci 42, 344–351 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-023-3058-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-023-3058-4

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