Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.37, No.4, 357-368, 1999
Role of tie molecules in the yielding deformation of isotactic polypropylene
We examined the effects of the tie-molecule fraction on the yielding behavior of two isotactic polypropylenes, one having little ethylene content and the other as the homopolymer with no ethylene. The tie-molecule fraction of the samples used in this study was controlled by blending ethylene-alpha-olefin of an alpha-olefin content above 50 mol % in the blend of which the copolymers were incorporated into the amorphous regions of polypropylene (PP). An excellent linear relationship was observed between the measured yield stress and the tie-molecule fraction estimated from the Huang-Brown model, suggesting that the tie-molecule fraction and lamellar stiffness determine whether the lamellar fragmentation is easily activated or not, depending on the PP composition. Furthermore, an extended Huang-Brown model predicts a lamellar cluster connecting about five lamellae, which has a potential to account for morphological transformation of the spherulitic structure into a fibrillar one. Comparing the immiscible blends showing a phase-separated morphology with the partially miscible blends mentioned above, the yield stress was lowered by the presence of rubber phase, apparently in a similar manner; but the yielding processes were clearly discriminated between both cases when the yield stress was plotted against the tie-molecule fraction.
Keywords:HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE;ALPHA-OLEFIN COPOLYMER;CRYSTALLINEPOLYMERS;LINEAR POLYETHYLENE;NEUTRON-SCATTERING;ELASTIC-MODULUS;BINARY BLENDS;MORPHOLOGY;MODEL;WEIGHT