Nonisothermal crystallization behavior of polypropylene–clay nanocomposites

The influence of two concentrations of clay nanoparticles on the nonisothermal crystallization behavior of the intercalated polypropylene–clay nanocomposites is investigated here. It is observed that the crystallization peak temperature (Tp) of PP–clay nanocomposites is marginally higher than neat PP at various cooling rates. Furthermore, the half-time for crystallization (t0.5) decreased with increase in clay content, implying the nucleating role of clay nanoparticles. The nonisothermal crystallization data is analyzed using Avrami, Ozawa and Mo and coworkers methods. The validity of kinetic models on the nonisothermal crystallization process of PP–clay nanocomposites is discussed. The approach developed by Mo and coworkers successfully describes the nonisothermal crystallization behavior of PP and PP–clay nanocomposites. The activation energy for nonisothermal crystallization of pure PP and PP–clay nanocomposites based on Kissinger method is evaluated.