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Effect of a novel bio-based β-nucleating agent on the properties of isotactic polypropylene

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Abstract

This study reported a series of esterified lignin metal salts (EL-M, M = Na, Mg, Ca, Ba, Zn) derived from lignin as nucleating agents, which were used in isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The crystallization and melting behavior and mechanical properties of iPP/EL-M composites were studied. The results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) revealed that the crystallization temperature of iPP/EL-M composites increased by 5 to 8 °C compared with that of pure iPP. Simultaneously, EL-Zn, EL-Ba and EL-Ca all had strong β-crystal induction ability to iPP. Especially, when the addition amount of EL-Zn in iPP was 0.20 wt%, the relative β-content of iPP/EL-Zn reached up to 0.9277, and it was basically not affected by the cooling rate, indicating that EL-Zn was extremely active, selective and stable for iPP. For the vantage, the results of mechanical properties and SEM revealed that EL-Zn, EL-Ba or EL-Ca could improve the toughness of iPP to a certain extent.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21376031) and Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2019JJ40294) for financial support.

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  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, 410114, Changsha, P. R. China

    Hui Li, Yue-Fei Zhang, Yan Li & Jinrong Zhong

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Li, H., Zhang, YF., Li, Y. et al. Effect of a novel bio-based β-nucleating agent on the properties of isotactic polypropylene. J Polym Res 28, 473 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-021-02826-1

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