The influence of branching efficiency on the rheology and morphology of melt state long chain branched polypropylene/polybutene-1 blends

Document Type : Original research

Authors

Faculty of Processing, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, P.O. Box: 14965/115, Tehran, I.R. Iran

Abstract

In this study, the compatibility of the blends of polypropylene (PP) and polybutene-1(PB-1) homopolymer before and after long chain branching process were studied. The blends were prepared and long-chain branched directly via reactive extrusion process in presence of free radical initiator and trimethylolpropane tri methacrylate (TMPTMA) poly functional monomer. The optimum percentage of TMPTMA and PB-1 resin have determined by measuring the grafting efficiency and by studying the rheological behavior in shear steady state and transient extensional mode and the morphology of samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Referring to the blends’ morphologies observed in SEM images which were approved by rheological data, it was found an enhanced compatibility in the blend by branching with 1.5wt% for TMPTMA and 10wt% for PB-1 resin. In this composition, the highest grafting efficiency of 37% and branch index of 5.2 achieved. The zero shear viscosity (η0) of PP is increased from 4500 Pa.s to 6800 Pa.s after branching process and enhanced more to 2400 Pa.s by using 10 wt% PB-1 resin. The Long-chain branched structure showed prominent higher zero-shear viscosity, longer relaxation time and pronounced strain-hardening behaviors. The branching behavior of samples were quantified by using extensional viscosity data and the branch index of samples were determined.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. Ghijsels A, Ente JJSM, Raadsen J (1997) Melt strength behavior of PE and its correlation on bubble stability in film blowing. Int Polym Pro­cess 12: 147-154
  2. Gotsis AD, Zeevenhoven BLF (2004) Effect of long branches on the rheology of PP. J Rheo 48: 895-914
  3. Weng W, Hu W, Dekmerzian AH, Ruff CJ (2002) Long chain branched isotactic polypropylene. Macromolecules 35: 3838-3843
  4. Cherian AE, Lobkovsky EB, Coates GW (2005) Synthesis of allyl-terminated syndiotactic poly­propylene: Macromonomers for the synthesis of branched polyolefins. Macromolecules 38: 6259- 6268
  5. Langston JA, Colby RH, Chung TCM (2007) Synthesis and characterization of long chain branched isotactic polypropylene via metallo­cene catalyst and T-reagent. Macromolecules 40: 2712-2720
  6. Kruse M (2017) From linear to long-chain branched poly (ethylene terephthalate) reactive extrusion, rheology and molecular characteriza­tion. 1st ed, Technical University of Berlin, 104- 111
  7. Janani Y, Ghetmiri M, Vaseghi M (2015) The effect of long chain branching of polypropyl­ene and chain extension of poly (ethylene tere­phthalates on the thermal behavior, rheology and morphology of their blends. RSC Advances 5: 21620-21628
  8. Alma’adeed M (2016) Polyolefin compounds and materials fundamentals and industrial appli­cations. Springer, Ch. 2, 33-35
  9. Lagendijk RP, Hogt AH, Buijtenhuijs A, Gotsis AD (2001) Peroxydicarbonate modification of polypropylene and extensional flow properties. Polymer 42:10035-10043
  10. Coiai S, Augier S, Pinzino C, Passaglia E, (2010) Control of degradation of polypropylene during its radical functionalization with furan and thio­phene derivatives. Polym Degrad Stabil 95: 298- 305
  11. Augier S, Coiai S, Passaglia E, Ciardelli F, Zulli F, Andreozzi L, Giordano M (2010) Structure and rheology of polypropylene with various ar­chitectures prepared by coagent-assisted radical processing. Polym Int 59: 1499-1505
  12.  Kiguchi T, (2012 Apr 12) Pre-expanded PP resin beads and process for producing same. US Patent 0,088,854 A1
  13. Nofar M, Guo Y, Park C B (2013) Double crystal melting peak generation for expanded polypro­pylene bead foam manufacturing. Ind Eng Chem Res 52: 2297-2303
  14. Choi J B, Chung M J, Yoon J S (2005) Formation of double melting peak of poly(propylene-co-thylene-co-1-butene) during the pre-expansion process for production of expanded polypropyl­ene. Ind Eng Chem Res 44: 2776-2780
  15. Hidehiro S (2005 Jan 4) Production method of foamed polypropylene resin beads. US Patent 6,838,488 B2
  16. Masakazu S (2012 Apr 26) Expanded PP resin beads and expanded bead molding. US Patent 0,100,376 A1
  17. Luciani L, Seppälä J, Löfgren B (1988) Poly- 1-butene: Its preparation, properties and chal­lenges. Prog Polym Sci 13(1): 37-62
  18. Alma’adeed M (2016) Polyolefin compounds and materials fundamentals and industrial appli­cations. Springer, Ch. 2, 33-35
  19. White JL, Choi DD (2005) Polyolefins: Process­ing, structure development and properties. 1st ed., Hanser Verlag, 115-117
  20. Kalay G, Kalay CR (2003) Compounding and injection molding of polybutene1/polypropylene blends. Appl Polym Sci 88(3): 806-813
  21. Schemm F (2004) Polybutene-1 entering the next generation. In: Proceedings of Plastics Pipes XII conference, Milan, Italy
  22. Ardakani F, Jahani Y, Morshedian J (2013) The role of PB-1 on the long chain branching of PP by electron beam irradiation in solid state and melt viscoelastic behavior. Rad Phys Chem 87: 64-70
  23. Fuentes YSR, Bucio E, Burillo G, (2008) Ther­mo and PH sensitive copolymer based on acrylic acid and N-isopropylacrylamide grafted onto polypropylene. Polym Bull 60: 79-88
  24. Picchioni F, Goossens JGP, van Duin M (2001) Solid-state modification of polypropylene (PP): Grafting of styrene on atactic PP. Macromol Symp 176: 245-253
  25. Picchioni F, Goossens J G P, van Duin M, Ma­gusin P (2003) Solid-state modification of isotac­tic polypropylene (iPP) via grafting of styrene. I. Polymerization experiments Appl Polym Sci 89: 3279-3291
  26. Picchioni F, Goossens J G P, van Duin M (2005) Solid-state modification of isotactic polypropyl­ene (iPP) via grafting of styrene. II. Morphology and melt processing. Appl Poly Sci 97: 575-583
  27. Yamamoto K, Tanaka H, Sakaguchi M, Shimada S, (2003 )Well-defined poly(methyl methacry­late) grafted to polyethylene with reverse atom transfer radical polymerization initiated by per­oxides. Polymer 44: 7661-7672
  28. Robin JJ, Boyer C, Boutevin B, Loubat C (2008) Synthesis and properties of polyolefin graft co­polymers by a grafting “onto” reactive process. Polymer 49: 4519-4530
  29. Tortorella N, Beatty CL (2008) Morphology and mechanical properties of impact modified poly­propylene blends. Poly Eng Sci 48: 2098-2110
  30. Guo Q (2016) Polymer morphology principles, characterization, and processing. Wiley, Ch. 3, 37-53
  31. Mekhilef N, Verhoogt H (1996) Phase inversion and dual-phase continuity in polymer blends: Theoretical predictions and experimental results. Polymer 37: 4069-4077
  32. Gotsis AD, Zeevenhoven BLF, Hogt AH (2004) The effect of long chain branching on the pro­cessability of polypropylene in thermoforming. Polym Eng Sci 44: 973-982
  33. Shroff R N, Mavridis H (2001) Assessment of NMR and rheology for the characterization of LCB in essentially linear polyethylenes. Macro­molecules 34: 7362-7367
  34. Wood-Adams PM, Dealy JM, deGroot AW, Red­wine OD (2000) Effect of molecular structure on the linear viscoelastic behavior of polyethylene. Macromolecules 33: 7489- 7499
  35. Schreiber HP, Bagley EB (1962) The Newtonian melt viscosity of polyethylene: An index of long-chain branching. J Polym Sci 58: 29–48
  36. Janzen J, Colby RH (1999) Diagnosing long-chain branching in polyethylenes. J Mol Struct 485: 569-584
  37. Malmberg A, Gabriel C, Munstedt H (2002) Long-chain branching in metallocene-catalyzed polyethylenes investigated by low oscillatory shear and uniaxial extensional rheometry. Macromolecules 35: 1038-1048
  38. Dealy JM, Larson G (2006) Structure and rhe­ology of molten polymers. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Ch. 5, 131-183
  39. Gell CB, Graessley WW, Efstratiadis V, Pitsica­lis M, Hadjichristidis N (1997) Viscoelasticity and self diffusion in melt of entangled asym­metric star polymers. J Polym Sci Pol Phys 35: 1943-1954
  40. Malmberg A, Gabriel C, Munstedt H (2002) Long-chain branching in metallocene-catalyzed polyethylenes investigated by low oscillatory shear and uniaxial extensional rheometry. Mac­romolecules 35(3): 1038-1048
  41. Kontopoulou M (2012) Applied polymer rheol­ogy. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Ch.6, 59-79
  42. Gabriel C, Munstedt H (2003) Strain hardening of various polyolefins in uniaxial elongational flow. J Rheol 47: 619-630
  43. Auhl D, Stange J, Krause B (2004) Long-chain branched polypropylenes by electron beam irra­diation and their rheological properties. Macro­molecules 37: 9465-9472
  44. Munstedt H (1980) Dependence of the elonga­tional behavior of polystyrene melts on molecu­lar weight and molecular weight distribution. J Rheol 24: 847-867
  45. Satpathy US , Mathur AB ( 2014 Dec 30) Con­current solid and melt state grafting of coagent for making long chain branched PP via direct re­active extrusion process. US Patent 8,221,466

Files

Cited by

History

  • Receive Date: 27 April 2018
  • Revise Date: 03 June 2018
  • Accept Date: 09 July 2018

Share

How to cite

Statistics