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Crystallization behaviors of polypropylene/montmorillonite nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Ma Jisheng,
Zhang Shimin,
Qi Zongneng,
Li Ge,
Hu Youliang
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.10127
Subject(s) - montmorillonite , crystallization , polypropylene , nanocomposite , materials science , nucleation , crystallinity , polymer chemistry , differential scanning calorimetry , chemical engineering , exfoliation joint , polymerization , optical microscope , composite material , scanning electron microscope , polymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , graphene , engineering , thermodynamics , physics
The isothermal crystallization kinetics of polypropylene/montmorillonite (PP/MMT) nanocomposites synthesized via intercalation polymerization were investigated by using differential scanning calorimeter and polarizing optical microscope (POM). The crystallinity of the nanocomposites decreased with the increase of the montmorillonite content, indicating that the MMT layers dispersed in the PP matrices confined the PP chains and hindered the crystallization of the PP chains. The POM photographs showed that the spherulites of the PP/MMT nanocomposites were greatly decreased in size as MMT was introduced. On the other hand, the crystallization rate increased dramatically with the increasing of MMT content. The interfacial free‐energy per unit area perpendicular to PP chains in PP/MMT nanocomposites decreased with increasing MMT content, suggesting that the MMT layers acted as heterogeneous nuclei in the nucleation of crystallization. The nucleus density increased with the increasing of MMT content, leading to a positive effect on the crystallization. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 1978–1985, 2002