Morphology and nonisothermal crystallization of in situ microfibrillar poly(ethylene terephthalate)/polypropylene blend fabricated through slit-extrusion, hot-stretch quenching

This study describes the morphology and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in situ micro-fiber-reinforced blends (MRB) obtained via slit-extrusion, hot-stretching quenching. For comparison purposes, neat PP and PET/PP common blends are also included. Morphological observation indicated that the well-defined microfibers are in situ generated by the slit-extrusion, hot-stretching quenching process. Neat iPP and PET/iPP common blends showed the normal spherulite morphology, whereas the PET/iPP microfibrillar blend had typical transcrystallites at 1 wt % PET concentration. The nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of three samples were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Applying the theories proposed by Jeziorny, Ozawa, and Liu to analyze the crystallization kinetics of neat PP and PET/PP common and microfibrillar blends, agreement was found between our experimental results and Liu's prediction. The increases of crystallization temperature and crystallization rate during the nonisothermal crystallization process indicated that PET in situ microfibers have significant nucleation ability for the crystallization of a PP matrix phase. The crystallization peaks in the DSC curves of the three materials examined widened and shifted to lower temperature when the cooling rate was increased. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.