Effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes on the crystallization behavior of polypropylene

Polypropylene matrix composites reinforced with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were produced with different nanotube concentrations. The characterization of these new materials was performed by differential scanning calorimetry and Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to obtain information on the matrix-nanotube interaction, on the crystallization kinetics of polypropylene, and especially on the macrostructure and organization of the nanotubes in the composite. On the one hand, the results confirmed the expected nucleant effect of nanotubes on the crystallization of polypropylene, but on the other hand, this effect was not linearly dependent on the SWNT content: there was a saturation of the nucleant effect at low nanotube concentrations. Raman spectroscopy was successfully applied to demonstrating that in the composite films, the crystallization kinetics were strongly affected by the distance between the nanotube bundles as a result of a different intercalation of the polymer. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.