Summary: A new class of melt blend material was prepared by extruding a mixture of 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), maleic anhydride‐grafted poly(propylene) (PP‐g‐MA) with different molecular weight and MA content and poly(propylene) powder produced with a TiCl3‐based catalyst (PP‐A). A suitable selection of PP‐g‐MA provided extremely high melt strength (MS) of resultant blend materials. Such a superior melt property was caused by the synergy between the present melt reaction and the higher molecular weight portion containing PP‐A. The gel content measurements of typical blend materials and PP‐g‐MA/APTES blends indicated that an excessive amount of inert PP suppresses the formation of gels. The reaction between PP‐g‐MA and APTES was then investigated by analyzing crystalline polymer fractions separated from the atactic PP/PP‐g‐MA/APTES and atactic PP/PP‐g‐MA blends. The FT‐IR analysis of the fractions revealed that the NH2 group in APTES readily reacts with MA grafted on PP and the reaction leads to the formation of imide linkage. Moreover, the GPC analysis of the fraction showed that higher molecular weight polymers were formed in the presence of APTES. Since a trace amount of water surely produces in the vicinity of active silyltriethoxy groups during the reactive extrusion, such polymers were formed by the condensation between hydrolyzed APTES‐grafted polymer chains. These results led us to the conclusion that long‐chain‐branched PP (LCB‐PP) was certainly produced and its formation is essential for the increase in MS of the present blend materials.Relationship between log(MS) and log(MFR) for PP/PP‐g‐MA/APTES and commercial PP resins.magnified imageRelationship between log(MS) and log(MFR) for PP/PP‐g‐MA/APTES and commercial PP resins.

Viscoelastic simulations of deformation-induced bubble coalescence in forming process under isothermal condition were carried out. Multi mode PTT model was used in a simplified model for deformation of Polypropylene(PP) melt between bubbles in plane strain. 2-Dimentional Lagrangian FEM was adopted in the unsteady creeping flow simulation. The numerical results demonstrates that the thinnest part between neighboring gas bubbles is easily deformable and consequently coalescence occurs. Still more, creep recovery by elastic residual stress promotes the coalescence. The strain-hardening property is very effective to the coalescence prevention. Furthermore, the relaxation time distribution of polymer melts has significant influence on the behavior. Composition of the relaxation time that is a little longer than the elongational time makes a deformed bubble unstable and causes bubbles to coalesce. The numerical simulation could explain the deference in appearances of foamed sheets made of various PP.