Fracture toughness of controlled-rheology polypropylenes

Abstract

The Rheological, thermal, tensile and fracture properties of controlled-rheology polypropylene processed via organic peroxides have been evaluated. Different concentrations of di-tert-butylperoxide (DTBP) were used in this work. Both melt flow index and the crystallinity index increased slightly with the peroxide content while the melting temperature tend to decrease. This was attributed to the decrease in the molecular weight which mainly affects the amorphous region, especially the entanglement density of this semycrystalline polymer. As a consequence, the tensile stress and strain at break reduced as the peroxide content increased. The elastic-plastic response of the different polypropylenes at room temperature promotes the use of J-integral to determine the fracture toughness. A multiple specimens method was utilized. The crack initiation resistance and the crack propagation resistance were influenced by the molecular weight, decreasing as the peroxide content increased. The micromechanisms of failure were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy.