Abstract—This study was carried out to achieve the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of Poly(Propylene) (PP) and poly(propylene)/nano Talc (PP/nt) nanocomposite were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) with various cooling rates. The polymer PP and nano Talc with different % compounded by HAAKE Rheocord extruder. In order to improve the polyolefin nanocomposite formation by melt processing the use of an additional compatibilizer has been proposed. preferably for a nanocomposite material, comprising (a) a synthetic polymer, (b) a filler such as for example a natural or synthetic phyllosilicate or a mixture of such phyllosilicates, preferably in nanoparticles, and (c) a dispersing agent prepared by controlled free radical polymerization (CFRP). The degree of crystalinity of the talcfilled PP nano composite were calculated with the help of the ratio of the area under the cooling curve (heat of fusion ΔH) with respect to the area under 100 % crystalline PP material. The Avrami analysis modified by previous research was used to describe the nonisothermal crystallization process of PP and PP/Talc very well. The values of half-time and Zc showed that the crystallization rate increased with increasing cooling rates for both PP and PP/Talc nanocomposite, but the crystallization rate of PP/Talc nanocomposite was faster than that of PP at a given cooling rate. The activation energies were estimated by the Kissinger method, and the values were 242, 239, 234 and 229 kJ/mol for PP and PP/NT 1%, 3%, 5% nanocomposite, respectively. PP/NT nanocomposite could be easily fabricated as original PP, although the addition of nano Talc might accelerate the overall nonisothermal crystallization process.
Index Terms—poly propylene (PP); Nano Talc(NT); dispersing agent; crystallization kinetics; differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
1K. S. K. Rao Patnaik is with the Department of Chemical Engineering,University College of Technology (A), Osmania University, Hyderabad –500 007, India Fax No: 91- 40 – 27098472, email: ksk_raopatnaik@yahoo.co.in
2K. Sirisha Devi,Technical officer and 3V. Kiran Kumar, Manager areworking in the (Testing ) Central Institute of Plastic Engineering andTechnology(CIPET), Hyderabad. Email: sirisha_kongala@yahoo.com
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Cite: K.S.K.Rao Patnaik, K. Sirisha Devi and V. Kiran Kumar, "Non-isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Polypropylene (PP) and Polypropylene (PP)/Talc Nanocomposite," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 346-353 , 2010.
