Crystallization, melting behavior, and morphology of PP/Novolac blends

The crystallization, melting behavior, and morphology of Polypropylene (PP) and PP/Novolac blends were studied by scanning electron microscopy, wide angle X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and polarized optical microscope. The results showed that the crystallization of PP in PP/Novolac blends was strongly influenced by crystallization temperature, particles size of Novolac, crosslinking, and compatibilizer maleic anhydride-grafted PP The Novolac resin could not only affect the crystal structure, but also acted as effective nucleating agents, accelerating the crystallization of PP in the PP/Novolac blends. And the smaller the Novolac particles were, the more effective were the nucleating agent for PP crystallization. Avrami equation was used to analyze the isothermal crystallization kinetics of PP and PP/Novolac blends. The influences of curing and compatibilizer on the crystallization behavior of PP were rather complicated. The crystallization thermodynamics were estimated using the Hoffman theory. The incorporation of cured Novolac and compatibilizer evidently decreased the chain folding energy of PP. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.