Morphology, Rheology and Crystallization in Relation to the Viscosity Ratio of Polystyrene/Polypropylene Polymer Blends

Hammani, Salim; Moulai-Mostefa, Nadji; Samyn, Pieter; Bechelany, Mikhael; Dufresne, Alain; Barhoum, Ahmed

doi:10.3390/ma13040926

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Morphology, Rheology and Crystallization in Relation to the Viscosity Ratio of Polystyrene/Polypropylene Polymer Blends

¹,

²,

^4,*

⁵

and

Ahmed Barhoum

^6,*

Laboratoire de Chimie Physique Moléculaire et Macromléculaire, Faculté de Science, Université de Blida, 109000 Blida, Algeria

Laboratoire Matériaux et Environnement, Faculté des Sciences & Technologie, Université de Médéa, Ain D’Heb, 26001 Medea, Algeria

Applied and Analytical Chemistry, Institute for Materials Research (IMO-IMOMEC), Hasselt University, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium

⁴

Institut Européen des Membranes IEM, UMR 5635, Univ Montpellier, ENSCM, CNRS, 34095 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France

⁵

Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LGP2, 38000 Grenoble, France

⁶

Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, Cairo 11795, Egypt

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Materials 2020, 13(4), 926; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13040926

Received: 3 January 2020 / Revised: 11 February 2020 / Accepted: 14 February 2020 / Published: 19 February 2020

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Abstract

Microfibrillar and droplet morphology of polypropylene (PP) phase dispersed in polypropylene (PS) was fabricated by using melt-extrusion. This morphology was obtained by introducing isotactic PP (20 wt.%) with different viscosity in the PS matrix (80 wt.%). Furthermore, the rheological properties of the blend investigated as a function of the viscosity ratio K. The variations in blend morphology were related to crystallization, melting properties, and viscoelasticity. The blends with K >> 1 develop a fine morphology with PP microfibrils along the flow direction, while diameters of the dispersed PP droplets gradually increase with lower values of K = 1, or K << 1. Crystallinity of the prepared blends significantly decreases compared to neat PP, while the microfibrillar morphology induces homogeneous crystallization with small crystallites. This is reflected in a decrease of the crystallization temperature, small loss in the crystallinity, and lower melting temperature of the PS80/PP20 blend compared to neat PP. The storage moduli, loss moduli, and complex viscosity are highest for the microfibrillar morphology that presents retarded relaxation. The rheological properties are dominated by the dispersed phase (K > 1), or matrix (K < 1). The variation in blend properties with microfibrillar morphology can be clearly distinguished from heterogeneous blends containing PP droplets, providing an efficient tool to create a binary blend with unique properties. View Full-Text

Keywords: polymer blends; morphology; crystallization; rheology

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MDPI and ACS Style

Hammani, S.; Moulai-Mostefa, N.; Samyn, P.; Bechelany, M.; Dufresne, A.; Barhoum, A. Morphology, Rheology and Crystallization in Relation to the Viscosity Ratio of Polystyrene/Polypropylene Polymer Blends. Materials 2020, 13, 926. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13040926

AMA Style

Hammani S, Moulai-Mostefa N, Samyn P, Bechelany M, Dufresne A, Barhoum A. Morphology, Rheology and Crystallization in Relation to the Viscosity Ratio of Polystyrene/Polypropylene Polymer Blends. Materials. 2020; 13(4):926. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13040926

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hammani, Salim, Nadji Moulai-Mostefa, Pieter Samyn, Mikhael Bechelany, Alain Dufresne, and Ahmed Barhoum. 2020. "Morphology, Rheology and Crystallization in Relation to the Viscosity Ratio of Polystyrene/Polypropylene Polymer Blends" Materials 13, no. 4: 926. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13040926

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Morphology, Rheology and Crystallization in Relation to the Viscosity Ratio of Polystyrene/Polypropylene Polymer Blends

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