Investigation on the Effects of MXene and β-Nucleating Agent on the Crystallization Behavior of Isotactic Polypropylene

Abstract

The effects of MXene on the crystallization behavior of β-nucleated isotactic polypropylene (iPP) were comparatively studied. The commonly used MXene Ti3C2Tx was prepared by selective etching and its structure and morphology were studied in detail. Then MXene and a rare earth β-nucleating agent (NA) WBG-II were nucleated with iPP to prepare samples with different polymorphic compositions. The crystallization, melting behavior, and morphologies of neat iPP, iPP/MXene, iPP/WBG-II, and iPP/MXene/WBG-II were comparatively studied. The crystallization behavior analysis reveals that a competitive relationship exists between MXene and WBG-II when they were compounded as α and β nucleating agents. In the system, the β-nucleation efficiency (NE) of WBG-II is higher than α-NE of MXene. The β-phase has relatively low thermal stability and would transform to α-phase when cooled below a critical temperature.

Exploring the Effects of MXene on Nonisothermal Crystallization and Melting Behavior of β-Nucleated Isotactic Polypropylene

“…When β-NA is added, T c , T conset, and T cend of iPP/β-NA are the highest while T conset -T cend is the smallest, indicating that the addition of β-NA can greatly improve the crystallization ability of iPP, and the effect is more significant than the addition of MXene. This finding is consistent with the previous research results [51].…”

“…However, when MXene and β-NA are added simultaneously, the energy barrier increases again suggesting that the crystallization process becomes more difficult. Combining the other crystallization parameters and previous study [51], the results suggest that there exists a competitive relationship between MXene and β-NA as fillers.…”