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Nucleation effects of zinc adipate as β-Nucleating agent in ethylene-propylene block copolymerized polypropylene

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Abstract

We report herein the discovery of zinc salt of adipic acid (Adi-Zn) as a highly efficient β-nucleating agent for block copolymerized polypropylene (PPB). The effects of Adi-Zn on the mechanical properties, the β-crystal content, and crystallization behavior of PPB were investigated, respectively. The results showed that the β-crystal content (kβ value) of nucleated PPB could reach up to 0.97 and maintain over 0.9 at the concentration range from 0.1 wt% to 1.0 wt%. Compared to neat PPB, the maximum impact strength of nucleated PPB increased by 50.0% at 25 °C and 59.1% at −20 °C,respectively. The crystallization peak temperature of PPB nucleated with Adi-Zn was increase by 10 °C and the spherulite size was greatly decreased than that of neat PPB. Differential fast scanning chip-calorimeter results revealed that the formation of β-crystal strongly depends on the cooling rates during the crystallization. Finally, the Mo method was used to study the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of neat PPB and nucleated PPB.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this work by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 21476085 and 21106042) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (222201717025).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Materials Chemical Engineering, Department of Product Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, People’s Republic of China

    Yaoding Yang, Zhong Xin, Shicheng Zhao, Yaoqi Shi, Shuai Zhou & Jian Zhou

  2. Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry, Shanghai, 200062, People’s Republic of China

    Chunlin Ye

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  1. Yaoding Yang
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  2. Zhong Xin
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  3. Shicheng Zhao
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  4. Yaoqi Shi
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  5. Shuai Zhou
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  6. Jian Zhou
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  7. Chunlin Ye
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Correspondence to Shicheng Zhao.

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Yang, Y., Xin, Z., Zhao, S. et al. Nucleation effects of zinc adipate as β-Nucleating agent in ethylene-propylene block copolymerized polypropylene. J Polym Res 24, 143 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-017-1300-x

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