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The mechanical properties, crystallization and rheological behavior of isotactic polypropylene with nucleating agent supported on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS)

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Abstract

The influence of the nucleating agent that supported on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (supported NA) on the properties of iPP was investigated in detail. It was found that the supported NA have higher nucleating efficiency than the original NA powder in the iPP system. The flexural modulus of iPP increased by 11.6% with 0.04 wt.% original NA powder and increased by 20.5% when supported NA added. The sizes of supported NA were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The crystal structure and morphology of the iPP samples was studied using wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and polarized optical microscope (POM), respectively. The nucleating efficiency of supported NA and the dry mix of NA and POSS was also analyzed. The non-isothermal crystallization behaviors were analyzed using Mo’s model. Besides, the sample with supported NA exhibited lower complex viscosity (η*) values, indicting supported NA can act as a lubricant in system. A possible crystallization mechanism of supported NA in the iPP was proposed.

Nucleating agent (NA) can effectively improve the properties of isotactic polypropylene (iPP). However, for the NA insensitive to the melt, its dispersion in iPP is the usual problem. Supporting NA on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) can reduce the size of NA, improve its dispersion and thus effectively enhance its nucleating efficiency in iPP. In addition, POSS is a kind of an organic-inorganic hybrid materials and reputed as the smallest particles of silica. Using it as support of NA exhibit unusual melt viscosity reduction without compromising optical performance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 21878089 and 21606084), the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFB0302201), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (22221818010) and the National Natural Science Funds of China (Grant No. 21776079).

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  1. Department of Product Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Materials Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, People’s Republic of China

    Xian Zhang, Shicheng Zhao, Xin Meng & Zhong Xin

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Correspondence to Zhong Xin.

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Zhang, X., Zhao, S., Meng, X. et al. The mechanical properties, crystallization and rheological behavior of isotactic polypropylene with nucleating agent supported on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS). J Polym Res 27, 303 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-020-02260-9

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