Development of isotactic polypropylene and stearic acid-modified calcium carbonate composite: a promising material for microwavable packaging

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：C. Pechyen ; S. Ummartyotin
• 关键词：Microwavable packaging ; Polypropylene ; Calcium carbonate ; Stearic acid ; Crystallization
• 刊名：Polymer Bulletin
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：74
• 期：2
• 页码：431-444
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Chemistry and Materials Science
• 刊物主题：Polymer Sciences; Soft and Granular Matter, Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Physical Chemistry;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：1436-2449
• 卷排序：74

文摘

Isotactic polypropylene (PP) composite films were developed, with incorporation of CaCO₃ particles as active filler. Stearic acid was used for the surface treatment of CaCO₃ to provide composite films having improved mechanical, thermal and barrier properties against oxygen as well as water vapor, in comparison to neat PP films. The filler was melt mixed with PP in a twin-screw extruder, and the films produced through melt blowing. A slight reduction in T_g values of the filled PP films was observed, along with an increase in the overall crystallization extent relative to neat PP films. X-ray diffraction data confirmed that the CaCO₃ particles served as a β-nucleating agent capable of promoting the formation of the β-crystalline phase of PP and reducing the spherulite size, with stearic acid-coated CaCO₃ being most effective in promoting these features. Exposing the films to microwave radiation altered their properties; at low irradiation power, the T_g values and the degree of β-crystallization were enhanced, and barrier properties against oxygen and water vapor showed improvements. In contrast, no significant changes in the appearance of the film surface were evident highlighting the potential of these PP-based composite films in microwave packaging applications.