Surface and bulk properties of glycidyl methacrylate modified polypropylene: Experimental and molecular modeling studies

Modifications of polypropylene (PP) are often carried out to either functionalize them or meet specific property demands. This study considered the process of PP grafting with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as an intermediate step to achieve improvements in surface properties of this polymer. Abundant literature is available on this grafting process but little is known about the surface properties of the grafted PP. Present work considered both experimental and computational approaches to attain this goal. Experimentally, it was established that the melting temperature of modified PP changed with the addition of GMA, and at higher concentrations of GMA in the PP matrix, heterogeneous nucleation took place. Experimental results revealed a decrease in the surface energy (SE) as well. To discern the underlying reasons behind these changes, molecular dynamics simulations were undertaken. The computational results revealed that the changes in SE could be associated with the location of the functional group.