Nonisothermal Crystallization and Melting Behavior of PP/Nanoclay/CaCO3 Ternary Nanocomposite

PP/nanoclay/CaCO3 ternary nanocomposite was prepared using melt compounding in a lab scale corotating twin screw extruder. Nonisothermal crystallization and melting behavior of prepared samples were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The effect of different melt flow index (MFI) of PP, nanoclay and CaCO3 contents was evaluated. Other involved parameters including time and rate of crystallization were also determined. Furthermore, the analysis of nonisothermal crystallization was carried out based on Avrami equation. The results indicated that increasing MFI of PP and CaCO3 content results in an increase in crystallization temperature. The enhancement of nanoclay content decreased the crystallization temperature, maybe due to the reduction of chain movement. The obtained results by Avrami equation agree to the other experimental data. It was found that the influence of these parameters on the melting behavior was lower than the crystallization process. Also, the much formation of β–crystal of PP was not observed in the melting curves of prepared samples.

Keywords:

Nonisothermal crystallization , melting behavior , PP/nanoclay/CaCO3 nanocomposite