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

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.