Effect of hydrophobic nano‐silica/β‐nucleating agent on the crystallization behavior and mechanical properties of polypropylene random copolymers

Abstract In this work, hydrophobic nano‐silica (SiO 2 ) and β‐nucleating agent are incorporated into polypropylene random copolymer (PP‐R) matrix by melt blending. The effect of the content of nano‐SiO 2 /β‐nucleating agent on the crystallization and mechanical behaviors of PP‐R was investigated in detail. For a nano‐SiO 2 content of 0.5 wt% and a β‐nucleating agent content of 0.5 wt%, the tensile strength and impact strength of the composite were in a more balanced position. Regarding isothermal and non‐isothermal crystallization experiments, nano‐SiO 2 /β‐nucleating agent significantly accelerated the nucleation and growth of crystallites with a synergistic nucleation effect. Also, the crystallization kinetics of PP‐R/nano‐SiO 2 /β‐nucleating agent, PP‐R/nano‐SiO 2 and PP‐R/β‐nucleating agent composites were analyzed and compared using the Avrami equation. The results showed that the PP‐R/nano‐SiO 2 /β‐nucleating agent composites have better crystallization rate and shorter semi‐crystallization time. This study shows far‐reaching theoretical and practical implications for accelerating the development of new high‐performance PP‐R materials. © 2023 The Authors. Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Industrial Chemistry.