Improved impact property of long glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene random copolymer composites toughened with beta-nucleating agent via tunning the crystallization and phase

Crystallization and phase engineering offer a promising route to significantly improve the impact property of long glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene random copolymer (LGF/PPR) composites. However, the nucleation and crystallization mechanism in the crystallization process, and the resulting phase change mechanism are still unclear, which severely limits the remarkable improvement of the toughness of LGF/PPR composites. Herein, we successfully fabricate toughened LGF/PPR composites with excellent heat deflection temperature and impact toughness via tuning the crystallization behavior and phase structure generated by introducing beta-nucleating agent (beta-NA). Through differential scanning calorimeter and wide-angle X-ray diffraction analysis, the influence of LGF and beta-NA on the nucleation and crystallization mechanism of the PPR matrix was revealed. Therefore, the critical crystallization parameters were calculated, and then the correlation was established with tensile and impact properties through regression analysis. The results show that the impact strength of beta-PPR and beta-LGF/PPR/MPPR are remarkably increased by 50.1% and 26.3% at the critical beta-NA content of 0.2 and 0.1 wt%, respectively, due to the intrinsic toughening mechanism. This work may pave the way for preparing a class of LGF/PPR composites with high-impact toughness.

Automated summary

Crystallization and phase engineering can significantly improve the impact toughness and heat deflection temperature of long glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene random copolymer (LGF/PPR) composites by tuning the crystallization behavior and phase structure through introducing beta-nucleating agent (beta-NA). The introduction of beta-NA increases the impact strength of beta-PPR and beta-LGF/PPR/MPPR, paving the way for preparing LGF/PPR composites with high-impact toughness. The study reveals the influence of LGF and beta-NA on the nucleation and crystallization mechanism of the PPR matrix, establishing a correlation with tensile and impact properties.