Influence of heterogeneous nucleation on thermodynamic properties of isotactic polypropylene

In this paper we have investigated the effect of 1,2,3-trideoxy-4,6:5,7-bis-O-[(4-propylphenyl)methylene]-nonitol sorbitol used in varying amounts (0.01 - 1 wt %) on isotactic polypropylene (iPP) matrix. We have used dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to study glass transition temperatures and crystallinity as a function of the nucleating agent concentration. Isotactic polypropylene samples showed a strong dependency on amount of α nucleating agent used. An increasing content of sorbitol based nucleating agent led to an increase of crystallization temperature upon cooling from the melt at constant rate and a decrease of the glass transition temperatures.