Study on low temperature toughness and crystallization behavior of polypropylene random copolymer

Abstract This research designed a series of novel approaches aiming to tackle a long-standing problem that is the brittleness of polypropylene (PP) random copolymer (PPR) at low temperature. By introducing polyolefin elastomer (POE), the toughness of PPR was improved; talc improved the stiffness of PPR, low density polyethylene (LDPE) or high density PE (HDPE) improved the low temperature toughness of PPR, and annealing treatment also improved the low temperature toughness of PPR significantly. The addition of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) and triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) increased its stiffness through the formation of cross-linking networks. Also, the crystallization behavior and morphology were investigated in detail. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results indicated that the adoption of annealing treatment can improve the crystallinity of PPR, while a polarizing microscope revealed that the incorporation of foreign matter can facilitate the crystallization process of the matrix. X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests showed an unchanged polymorphic composition of PPR after introducing different additives, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that annealing treatment can enhance interfacial interactions between the matrix and fillers.