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Effect of TMB-5 on dispersion of MWCNTs in iPP and crystallization of β-nucleated iPP/MWCNTs composites

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Abstract

In this work, multiwall-carbon-nanotubes (MWCNTs), β nucleating agent(TMB-5) and isotactic polypropylene(iPP) were mixed to prepare MWCNTs/iPP composites, which were processed by a corotating twin screw extruder at 270 °C. MWCNTs at 0 wt%, 0.05 wt%, 0.3 wt%, 1 wt%, 2 wt% and 3 wt% were added into the composites respectively and the concentration of TMB-5 was 0.3 wt% consistently. Polarized light microscopy (POM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) were used to study the dispersion of MWCNTs in the β-Nucleated iPP and the crystallization of the composites. SEM and TEM graphs showed that MWCNTs dispersed individually in the iPP matrix when TMB-5 was added in the composites. In the contrast, there were many aggregates of MWCNTs in iPP matrix without TMB-5. DSC and WAXD results indicate that TMB-5 and individual MWCNTs have a synergistic effect on inducing the formation of β crystals. However, with the content of MWCNTs increasing in the composites, β crystal content decreased and α crystal content increased, which indicated that MWCNTs aggregating in the iPP matrix acted as α nucleating agent restricting the formation of β crystals and the effect of TMB-5 on dispersion became limited at a relatively high MWCNTs content.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SINOPEC Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry, Beijing, 100013, People’s Republic of China

    Yueming Ren, Jialiang Guo, Qi Zhang, Hao Zou, Chenguang Qu, Liqiu Chu, Shijun Zhang & Changjiang Wu

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  1. Yueming Ren
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  2. Jialiang Guo
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  3. Qi Zhang
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  4. Hao Zou
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  5. Chenguang Qu
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  6. Liqiu Chu
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  7. Shijun Zhang
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  8. Changjiang Wu
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Correspondence to Hao Zou.

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Ren, Y., Guo, J., Zhang, Q. et al. Effect of TMB-5 on dispersion of MWCNTs in iPP and crystallization of β-nucleated iPP/MWCNTs composites. J Polym Res 23, 127 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-016-1018-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-016-1018-1

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