Organogelators with dual β- and α-nucleating ability in isotactic polypropylene

Abstract

Nucleation efficiency and the special supermolecular structure formed in the presence of novel nucleating agents, N,N′-dicyclohexylsuberoylamide and N,N′-dicyclohexylsebacoylamide are presented in this work. The nucleation effect is studied in isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The melting and crystallization processes as well as the polymorphic composition are studied using calorimetric and thermo-optical techniques, while the solubility of the nucleating agents is studied by rheology. The properties of the iPP products nucleated by the novel compounds are characterized by conventional tensile and impact tests and the optical properties are measured by standardized haze measurements. The results indicated clearly that the studied nucleating agents are partially soluble in the iPP melt and possess dual nucleating ability. The formation of β-phase is evidenced by the calorimetric and thermo-optical measurements. The morphology of the nucleated samples shows similarity to iPP nucleated by well-known soluble “organogelators”; however, the nucleating agents introduced in this work are the first “organogelators” with β-nucleating efficiency.

An efficient β-nucleating agent with high lattice matching rate for plate-like crystallization of polypropylene random copolymer

“…And it typically has a considered excellent β-crystal induction effect at a low concentration of 0.05%, which is more efficient than other reported nucleating agents in propylene–ethylene random copolymer. 47,48…”

“…10 b-NA is undoubtedly a key factor in the preparation of PP-RCT. At present, there are many typical kinds of b nucleating agents for polypropylene, including inorganic salts, 11,12 amides, [13][14][15] carboxylates, [16][17][18] rare earths 19,20 and even polymers. [21][22][23] Among them, amides, 24,25 carboxylates 26 and rare earths 27 are chiey used for industrial applications.…”

The Crystallization Morphology and Conformational Changes of Polypropylene Random Copolymer Induced by a Novel β-Nucleating Agent

“…The introduction of an effective β-nucleating agent is the most reliable and prominent method for preparation of β-PP [ 22 ]. At present, there are many varieties of β-nucleating agents for polypropylene, including carboxylates [ 23 ], amides [ 24 , 25 , 26 ], inorganic salts [ 27 , 28 ], rare earths [ 29 , 30 ] and even polymers [ 31 , 32 ]. However, not all β-nucleating agents have an excellent β-induced nucleation effect for PPR [ 33 ].…”