Effect of compatibilization and reprocessing on the isothermal crystallization kinetics of polypropylene/wood flour composites

Numerous studies have focused on polymer mixtures aimed at the potential applications of these materials. This work analyzed the effect of polymer reprocessing and the type and concentration of compatibilizer on the isothermal crystallization kinetics of polypropylene/wood flour composites. The composites, which were polypropylene grafted with acrylic acid (PP-g-AA) and maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA), were processed in a twin screw extruder with and without compatibilizer. Reprocessed polypropylene reached complete crystallization in less time than the composites with virgin polypropylene. The addition of wood flour to the composites did not change the kinetics significantly compared to that of the pure polymers, but the compatibilizers did, particularly PP-g-AA. The nucleation exponent (n) and crystallization rate (K) were calculated from Avrami plots. The values of n ranged from 2 to 3, indicating instantaneous to sporadic nucleation. The crystallization half-time of reprocessed polypropylene was shorter than that of virgin polypropylene and of the compositions containing PP-g-AA compatibilizer. The activation energy of crystallization and the equilibrium melting temperature were calculated, respectively, from Arrhenius and Hoffman-Weeks plots. Both of these parameters showed lower values in the composites, particularly in the ones containing compatibilizers.