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Tailoring the mechanical properties of binary polypropylene blends with polymorphic and oriented hierarchical structures

Polymer Journal volume 55, pages 837–848 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ziegler-Natta isotactic polypropylenes (ZN-iPP) were melt blended with metallocene-based isotactic polypropylenes (M-iPP) to regulate and strengthen their mechanical properties systematically. Quantitatively, the hierarchical structure was characterized by synchrotron wide-angle X-ray diffraction, small-angle X-ray scattering, and differential scanning calorimetry. Without specific catalysts, the iPP samples exhibited a continuous change in the tensile strength (26.9–49.5 MPa) and impact strength (4.7–23.2 KJ/m2). With variable composition, the iPP blends exhibited mechanical properties that were related to the complex lamellar morphology, which is characterized by a gradually changing ratio of γ- to α-crystals and a continuous change in lamellar thickness. Compared to conventional injection molding samples, the oscillatory shear injection molding samples were simultaneously reinforced and toughened at a given blend composition, which was attributed to the shish-kebab structure (containing the α-parent crystal, α-daughter crystal, γ-crystals) and the relatively thicker lamellar thickness throughout the samples. The regulatory capacity of strength, ductility, and toughness of the iPP blends in this work is outstanding, providing an avenue to use iPP more efficiently, which should be valuable in industrial applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51503023), the Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (Sichuan University) (Grant No. sklpme 2021-05-04), and Foundation of Liaoning Province Education Administration (LJKZ0533). We also thank the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) for supporting the X-ray measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Textile and Material Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, 116034, China

    Yan Wang, Yisu Wang, Shuai Qiu, Hong Zhang & Jing Guo

  2. College of Polymer Science and Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Yan Wang & Jia-Zhuang Xu

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  1. Yan Wang
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Correspondence to Yan Wang or Jia-Zhuang Xu.

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Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Qiu, S. et al. Tailoring the mechanical properties of binary polypropylene blends with polymorphic and oriented hierarchical structures. Polym J 55, 837–848 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-023-00773-w

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