Composites of Cysteamine Functionalised Graphene Oxide and Polypropylene

Cysteamine functionalised reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was grafted to polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) and subsequently melt blended with PP. The covalent bridging of rGO to PP-g-MA via the cysteamine molecule and co-crystallization are routes to promoting interfacial interactions between rGO and the PP matrix. A rheological percolation threshold was achieved for a nanofiller loading between 3 wt% and 5 wt%, but none detected for the composites prepared with un-functionalized rGO. At low loadings (0.1 wt%), functionalized rGO is well dispersed in the PP matrix, an interconnecting filler-filler, polymer-filler and polymer-polymer network is formed, resulting in increased tensile toughness (1 500%) and elongation at break (40%) relative to neat PP. Irrespective of whether the rGO was functionalised or not, it had a significant effect on the crystallization behavior of PP, inducing heterogeneous nucleation, increasing the crystallisation temperature (Tm) of PP by up to 10°C and decreasing the crystalline content (Xc) by ∼30% for the highest (5 wt%) filler loading. The growth of the monoclinic a-phase of PP is preferred on addition of functionalised rGO and b crystal growth suppressed.

Crystallization, Structures, and Properties of Different Polyolefins with Similar Grafting Degree of Maleic Anhydride

Maleic anhydride (MAH) grafting to different polyolefins with similar grafting degree can have different effects on crystallization, crystal structure, and mechanical and thermal properties. The grafting leads to a smaller crystal size, less ordered lamellar structure, and a shorter long period for HDPE, LLDPE, and PP. The grafting makes PP lamellar packing less ordered the most and almost no effect to LLDPE. The grafting does not have that much impact on the crystallization ability of the HDPE, LLDPE, and HDPE/PP blend, but appreciably reduces the crystalline ability of PP-g-MAH, due to a dramatical drop in its molecular weight during the grafting process. As a result, the grafting makes PP a very brittle material with a lowered average melting point than the corresponding neat PP, but the grafting has almost no effect on elongation at break for LLDPE and some effect on HDPE (decreased by one-third). However, the PP degradation due to MAH grafting can be avoided in the presence of PE component, i.e., making the grafting of PP and PE at the same time with HDPE/PP blend. The grafted HDPE/PP blend shows a significantly improved compatibility, which leads to overall appreciably better mechanical properties than the neat HDPE/PP blend.