Influence of the amount of salts of rosin acid on the nonisothermal crystallization, morphology, and properties of isotactic polypropylene

The nonisothermal crystallization of Isotactic polypropylene (iPP) containing different concentration of nucleating agent potassium dehydroabietate (DHAA‐K) or sodium dehydroabietate (DHAA‐Na) at the cooling rate of 10°C/min was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) together with Jeziorny's method. It was found that the temperature at which the maximum rate of crystallization occurred shifted to a higher region by about 13.7–16.9°C, and the rate of crystallization became faster for iPP with DHAA‐K (PPK) or DHAA‐Na (PPNa) in comparison to the virgin iPP. Avrami exponent for virgin PP, PPK, and PPNa was about 3.1, 2.2, and 2.2, respectively, suggesting the change of the crystal growth mechanism of iPP with the addition of the nucleating agents. The morphology of iPP with and without nucleating agent examined by a cross polarized light microscope indicated that the size of spherulites marginally decreased, which then remained stable with the increase of the concentration of DHAA‐K or DHAA‐Na. The measurements of the optical and mechanical properties of iPP showed that the transparency, gloss, and flexural modulus increased with increasing nucleating agent before its optimal concentration. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:889–897, 2007.