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Revolutionizing Impact Strength: Innovations in Compounding for Polypropylene Copolymers

Article

Last updated: 01 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Organic chemistry

Abstract

A significant amount of ethylene-containing ethylene-propylene random copolymer (EPR) and isotactic polypropylene homopolymer make up the typical polypropylene impact copolymer (ICP). The manufacturing process involves consecutive polymerization in many reactors. Although ICPs have benefits over HPP, some applications need certain features of ICPs, such as the balance between impact strength and stiffness (I/S), among other factors. Nevertheless, technical constraints impose restrictions on the maximum EPR level and the greatest isotacticity in the homopolymer continuous phase, which are essential for effectively controlling the I/S balance. Previous studies sought to improve the qualities of ICP by incorporating it with materials that contain desirable characteristics, ideally from the same material family such as polyolefins, or from distinct families. This research examines two blend systems: the first system includes combining ICP with HPP, while the second system involves blending various grades of ICP. Three grades of high-performance polypropylene (HPP), each with different melt flow rates (molecular weights), were used as a non-continuous phase. In contrast, grades of impact copolymer polypropylene (ICP) with varied ethylene-rubber phases and molecular weights were employed as the continuous phase. The incorporation of 25% HPP into the continuous phase of the blend, with ICP, did not result in any improvement in the stiffness and impact strength of the final blend products. Nevertheless, the combination of several ICPs demonstrated enhanced resilience. The results indicate that a rubber mixture with evenly distributed particles and a uniform size distribution significantly improves impact resistance. Specifically, one blend showed a 52% increase in impact resistance compared to the original ICP, while another blend showed a 20% increase. In summary, our evaluation highlights the significance of a particular formulation, demonstrating that a well-distributed rubber composition and uniform particle size distribution greatly boost impact resistance in certain mixtures, resulting in significant gains compared to the original ICP.

DOI

10.21608/ejchem.2024.258606.9096

Keywords

Impact strength/resistance, Impact Copolymer PP (ICP), Blends

Authors

First Name

Khalid E.

Last Name

AlEidan

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Polymer Research Group, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527 Egypt;

Email

kh_ald@ksu.edu.sa

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

El-Refaie

Last Name

Kenawy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Polymer Research Group, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527 Egypt;

Email

ekenawy@science.tanta.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Hamada S. A.

Last Name

Mandour

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Polymer Research Group, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527 Egypt;

Email

hamadamand@tu.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mohamed M.

Last Name

Azaam

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Polymer Research Group, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527 Egypt;

Email

mazzam@tu.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Bander S.

Last Name

AlOtaibi

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Email

ban_alot@ksu.edu.sa

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

67

Article Issue

8

Related Issue

47534

Issue Date

2024-08-01

Receive Date

2023-12-27

Publish Date

2024-08-01

Page Start

459

Page End

479

Print ISSN

0449-2285

Online ISSN

2357-0245

Link

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/article_338711.html

Detail API

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=338711

Order

338,711

Type

Original Article

Type Code

297

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Chemistry

Publication Link

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Revolutionizing Impact Strength: Innovations in Compounding for Polypropylene Copolymers

Details

Type

Article

Created At

30 Dec 2024