Effect of dihydrazide compounds with different side-chain substituents on the crystallization behavior and mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene
摘要
A series of dihydrazide compounds were synthesized and evaluated as nucleating agents (NAs) for isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The crystallization behavior of iPP was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to investigate the influence of dihydrazide compounds featuring streptane and cycloalkane substituents with varying carbon chain lengths. The mechanical properties of iPP nucleated by highly efficient NAs were characterized. Internal crystallization was observed using polarized optical microscopy (POM). DSC results demonstrated that all synthesized compounds exhibited strong α-nucleating ability in iPP. Comparing phenylenedihydrazide and cyclohexanedihydrazide compounds with identical substituent carbon numbers, cycloalkane substituents were found to nucleate iPP more effectively than streptane substituents. Mechanical property tests demonstrated a significant increase in the rigidity of nucleated iPP without compromising its inherent toughness. POM analysis revealed that the addition of NAs accelerated nucleation kinetics, refined spherical crystal sizes, and expedited the crystallization process.