Influence of trisamide-based additives on the morphological and mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene

The influence of two different trisamide-based additives on the morphological and mechanical behavior of isotactic polypropylene (PP) is investigated. Morphological investigations by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) show that only 0.04 wt.-% of one of the additives is enough to induce 80% beta modification in the crystalline part of the polymer. The materials are investigated with quasistatic (tensile testing) as well as short-time dynamic (Charpy impact strength) methods and for the first time fatigue crack growth measurements are performed on alpha- and beta-nucleated PP. In all cases a much higher toughness of the material containing the beta-nucleating agent (beta NA) can be observed. The crack growth propagation rate is one order of magnitude smaller with the use of the beta-nucleating agent compared to the alpha polymer. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) pictures are used to support the correlation of the mechanical behavior with the morphological changes.