Long Chain Branched Polypropylene with Nucleating Agent

The aim of this Master thesis is to study the crystallization and properties of long chain branched polypropylene (LCB PP) containing commercial alfa-nucleating/clarifying agent Millad 3988 based on 1,3;2,4-bis(3,4-dimethylbenzylidene)sorbitol. For comparison also standard polypropylene is studied. LCB PP has been developed to improve melt strength, thus it can be advantageously processed by techniques such as thermoforming of blow molding. These methods are usually used for packaging application where also clarity is often required. Thus, the understanding of crystallization of LCB PP containing clarifying agent is on high interest. In the work, samples from LCB PP and also standard PP are crystallized using several conditions. Then the crystallization kinetics and morphology is evaluated. Also optical properties are analyzed. It has been found that the addition of Millad 3899 does not significantly influences the crystallization and morphology of LCB PP.