Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.93, No.2, 615-623, 2004
Effect of thermal conductivity and heat transfer on crystallization, structure, and morphology of polypropylene containing different fillers
The crystallization behavior, structure, and morphology developed was investigated for polypropylene containing different fillers such as silica, calcium carbonate, talc, mica, graphite, etc. by using compression-molded samples prepared at several cooling rates. It was observed that the crystallinity obtained for any given composition depended on the thermal conductivity of the filler and the PP composite containing it as well as the cooling rate to which it was subjected. These composites exhibited skin-core type of morphology and the skin layer thickness was found to depend not only on the cooling rate but also on the type of filler, its thermal conductivity, etc. These various experimental findings were discussed in light of the phenomenological model described in our earlier work, which correlates thermal conductivity and degree of crystallinity for various compositions of PP containing additives. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.