A novel highly efficient β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene

Abstract

AbstractA novel highly efficient β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene (iPP), hexahydrophthalic barium (HHPA‐Ba), was found and its effects on the mechanical properties, the β‐phase content, and crystallization behavior of iPP were investigated, respectively. The results show that the β‐phase content of nucleated iPP (kβ value) can reach 80.2% with 0.4 wt % HHPA‐Ba. The impact strength and crystallization peak temperature of nucleated iPP are greatly increased. Compared with pure iPP, the impact strength of nucleated iPP can increase 2.4 times. Meanwhile, the spherulite size of nucleated iPP is dramatically decreased than that of pure iPP. The Caze method was used to investigate the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of nucleated iPP and the crystallization active energy was achieved by Kissinger method. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011