Degree of branching of polypropylene measured from Fourier-transform rheology

In this study, linear and branched polypropylenes (PP) were compared under medium strain amplitude oscillatory shear (usually strain amplitude range from 10 to 100%) with Fourier-transform rheology (FT rheology). On a log-log diagram, the third relative intensity (I-3/I-1), which is a parameter to represent nonlinearity, shows a linear relationship with the strain amplitude in the range of medium strain amplitude. The slope of I-3/I-1 of linear PP with various molecular weight and molecular weight distribution was 2 as most constitutive equations predict, while that of branched PP was 1.64, which is lower than that of linear PP. When the linear and branch PP were blended, the slope of I-3/I-1 was proportional to the composition of the branch PP. Therefore, it is suggested that the degree of branching can be defined in terms of the slope of I-3/I-1 under medium amplitude oscillatory shear.