Polymer, Vol.36, No.25, 4877-4881, 1995
Interfacial Morphologies in Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene Microcomposites
Formation and build-up of interfacial morphologies along a high-modulus carbon fibre (HMCF), produced by isothermal crystallization in quiescent and sheared melts of isotactic polypropylene (PP), were studied by thermo-optical methods. It was established that in the quiescent melt, the HMCF generates alpha-transcrystallization due to its strong alpha-nucleation ability. In the isothermally crystallized sheared melt, achieved by pulling the HMCF slightly above the crystallization temperature, a transcrystalline-like supermolecular structure developed. It was evidenced that this shear-induced supermolecular structure is composed of two crystalline phases : alpha and beta. The alpha-layer, generated by melt-shearing along the CF surface (alpha-row nuclei), triggered the growth of the beta-modification of PP under the crystallization conditions selected, This shear-induced polymorphous interfacial morphology should be correctly termed ’cylindrite’. The basic difference between transcrystallization and cylindritic crystallization is related to the fact that transcrystallization is induced by heterogeneous nucleation, whereas cylindritic growth is induced by self (homogeneous) nucleation.
Keywords:NUCLEATED CYLINDRITIC CRYSTALLIZATION;ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE;TRANSCRYSTALLIZED INTERPHASE;THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES;FIBER