Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.40, No.5, 408-414, 2002
Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of polypropylene/montmorillonite nanocomposites
The nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(propylene) (PP) and poly(propylene)/organic-montmorillonite (PP/Mont) nanocomposite were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) with various cooling rates. The Avrami analysis modified by previous research was used to describe the nonisothermal crystallization process of PP and PP/Mont nanocomposite very well. The values of half-time and Z(c) showed that the crystallization rate increased with increasing cooling rates for both PP and PP/Mont nanocomposite, but the crystallization rate of PP/Mont nanocomposite was faster than that of PP at a given cooling rate. The activation energies were estimated by the Kissinger method, and the values were 189.4 and 155.7 kJ/mol for PP and PP/Mont nanocomposite, respectively. PP/Mont nanocomposite could be easily fabricated as original PP, although the addition of organomontmorillonite might accelerate the overall nonisothermal crystallization process.