Exploitation of a New Nucleating Agent by Molecular Structure Modification of Aryl Phosphate and Its Effect on Application Properties of the Polypropylene

Fuhua Lin; Mi Zhang; Tianjiao Zhao; Yanli Zhang; Dingyi Ning; Wenju Cui; Yingchun Li; Xinde Chen; Jun Luo

doi:10.3390/polym15244730

Exploitation of a New Nucleating Agent by Molecular Structure Modification of Aryl Phosphate and Its Effect on Application Properties of the Polypropylene

Polymers (Basel). 2023 Dec 17;15(24):4730. doi: 10.3390/polym15244730.

Authors

Fuhua Lin^{1

2}, Mi Zhang³, Tianjiao Zhao⁴, Yanli Zhang⁴, Dingyi Ning⁴, Wenju Cui⁴, Yingchun Li², Xinde Chen⁵, Jun Luo⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Traffic Engineering, Shanxi Vocational University of Engineering Science and Technology, Jinzhong 030619, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan 030024, China.
³ Shanxi Province Institute of Chemical Industry (Co., Ltd.), Jinzhong 030621, China.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
⁶ Guangzhou Fibre Product Testing and Research Institute, Guangzhou 510220, China.

Abstract

In this work, a novel α-nucleating agent (NA) for polypropylene (PP) termed APAl-3C-12Li was prepared and evaluated compared with the commercially available type NA-21. For the synthesis of the organophosphate-type NA (APAl-3C), the -OH group of the acid part of NA-21 was substituted by the isopropoxy group. The structure of APAl-3C was analyzed by spectroscopy and element analysis, the results of which were consistent with the theoretical molecular formula. APAl-3C's thermal stability was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG), which showed only weak mass loss below 230 °C, meaning that it would not decompose during the processing of PP. The APAl-3C-12Li was used as a novel nucleating agent, studying its effects on crystallization, microstructure, mechanical and optical properties. Tests were performed in a PP random copolymer at different contents, in comparison to the commercial NA-21. The composite with 0.5 wt% APAl-3C-12Li has a similar crystallization temperature of 118.8 °C as with the addition of 0.5 wt% NA-21. An advantage is that the composite with the APAl-3C-12Li has a lower haze value of 9.3% than the counterpart with NA-21. This is due to the weaker polarity of APAl-3C-12Li after the introduction of methyl and better uniform dispersion in the PP matrix, resulting in stronger improvement of optical and mechanical properties.

Keywords: PP; crystallization behavior; mechanical property; nucleating agent; optical property.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher Education Institutions in Shanxi (2023L421), the Special Project for Guiding the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements of Shanxi Province (202204021301061), the Patent Transformation Special Plan Project of Shanxi Province (202303010).