The kinetics of grafting and chain scission reactions during maleic anhydride (MA) grafting onto polypropylene (PP) using nanoclay-supported peroxide (o-MMT/DCP) in the molten state were evaluated through the development of a new methodology. A combination of characterization techniques and mathematical data manipulation was employed for this assessment. To inhibit radical propagation and recombination, tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) was used as a free radical scavenger. Rheological stability tests demonstrated that TEMPO was more effective as a reaction inhibitor. The kinetics dataindicated that the use of o-MMT/DCP resulted in products with higher MA grafted levels and molecular weight (MW) compared to grafting performed in the absence of o-MMT. Additionally, some changes in molecular architecture were observed. The chain scission distribution function (CSDF) revealed that during the MA grafting process, the molecular weight of PP was reduced through chain scission, with a preference for longer chains. Furthermore, the presence of o-MMT was found to restrain the level of PP chain scission, likely due to recombination on the clay surface.
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