Dashan Mi

The Changes of Microstructure and Physical Properties of Isotactic Polypropylene/β Nucleation Agent/Polyolefin Elastomer Induced by Annealing Following Processing

Blends of isotactic polypropylene (iPP)/β nucleation agent (β-NA)/polyolefin elastomer (POE) were prepared by injection molding. The microstructure and mechanical properties of these blends before and after being annealed at various temperatures and times were studied. It was found that annealing simultaneously increased the tensile strength and impact strength. As known, the degree of orientation decreased from the skin layer to the core layer. The orientation of all layers decreased with the increase of annealing temperature and time. The results showed that annealing gave rise to chain rearrangement in both the crystalline and POE phases which, we suggest, played a crucial role in determining the mechanical properties of the blends.

Enhanced Mechanics in Injection Molded Isotactic Polypropylene/Polypropylene Random Copolymer Blends via Introducing Network-like Crystal Structure

The crystallization behavior, rheological behavior, mechanical properties and microstructures of injection molded isotactic polypropylene (iPP), polypropylene random copolymer (co-PP) and iPP/co-PP blends were investigated. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic rheological analysis illustrated that iPP and co-PP were compatible in the blends and co-PP uniformly dispersed in the iPP phase. Polarizing optical microscope (POM) was adopted to observe the crystal size and morphology evolution. The results of mechanical properties and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the crystal size of iPP in iPP/co-PP blends (10 wt% co-PP + 90 wt% iPP and 30 wt% co-PP + 70 wt% iPP) radically decreased after the incorporation of co-PP. During crystallization, the molecular chain segments of co-PP could penetrate iPP spherulites and form a network-like crystalline structure. The network-like crystal structure could effectively transmit stress and consume more energy to overcome intermolecular forces to resist stretching. In this way, the strength would improve to a certain degree. The impact fracture mechanism of iPP/co-PP blends is quasi ductile fracture by multiple crazes. Our work discovered that the blends containing 10 wt% and 30 wt% of co-PP exhibited prominent toughness and reinforcement.

Distribution of α-, β-, and γ-phases in a Multi-flow Injection-molded Hierarchical Structure

In the current work, a custom-made vibration injection molding device that can provide oscillatory pressure was utilized to create an injection-molded hierarchical structure. Growth competition among α, β, and γphases in the injection-molded structure can be studied because of the presence of this hierarchical structure, wherein shish-kebab and spherulite layers were arranged alternately along the thickness direction. The γcrystals only existed in layers subjected to high pressure and shear stress, whereas β crystals formed between the shear layers. The change in trend of the γfraction was similar to that of parent-to-daughter ratio. In addition, this hierarchical and alternating crystal structure can sharply increase the mechanical properties.