Synergistic enhancement of glass fiber and tetrapod‐shaped ZnO whisker on the mechanical and thermal behavior of isotactic polypropylene

Abstract

ABSTRACTImprovement of mechanical and thermal properties is always the goal of high‐performance general plastic for engineering applications. Herein, isotactic polypropylene/glass fiber/tetrapod‐shaped zinc oxide (iPP/GF/T‐ZnOw) composites are developed via melt‐extrusion on twin‐screw extruder. To improve the distribution of T‐ZnOw in iPP matrix, T‐ZnOw is first modified by various silane coupling agents and its structure is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra, and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). The optimized treatment condition is determined via comparison of activation index. The introduction of GF and T‐ZnOw could improve the mechanical properties including tensile strength, elastic modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength, indicating that the surface modification and compatibilizer could enhance the interfacial interaction of iPP/GF/T‐ZnOw composites. Moreover, XRD and differential scanning calorimentryresults show that T‐ZnOw as a novel β‐nucleating agent could induce the formation of β‐crystal and the existence of GF counteracts the formation of β‐crystal induced by T‐ZnOw. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 44217.