Morphological Changes in Thin Polypropylene Films Induced by 4-Biphenyl Carboxylic Acid

Published

October 16, 2008

Author(s)

Marlon L. Walker, Chad R. Snyder, Naomi Eidelman, E S. Etz, A P. Smith, Alamgir Karim, Eric J. Amis

Abstract

The crystallization behavior of thin polypropylene films both neat and containing a nucleating agent, 4-biphenyl carboxylic acid, was investigated by optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. High-throughput methods were used to create samples having a large number of (h,T) combinations in which to explore the activity of a nucleating agent, 4-biphenyl carboxylic acid in thin polypropylene films. The nucleating agent associated into filament-like structures within the films upon being incorporated into the polymer solution and subsequent flow-coating onto silicon substrates. These resulting nucleating sites induced lamella origination and alignment perpendicular to the filaments generating crystallites (occasionally irregularly-shaped) in the thin films. Upon annealing and undercooling, the film morphology in both the neat and nucleated film samples was explored using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The nucleating action of 4-biphenyl carboxylic acid facilitates crystalliteformation at temperatures 10 C to 15 C higher than in neat polypropylene films, resulting in crystallites with smaller sizes and more regular distribution of sizes.

Citation

Langmuir

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

4-biphenyl, AFM, carboxylic acid, combinatorial, crystallization, high-throughput methods, nucleating agent, polypropylene, Raman, polymer thin films, IR

Citation

Walker, M. , Snyder, C. , Eidelman, N. , Etz, E. , Smith, A. , Karim, A. and Amis, E. (2008), Morphological Changes in Thin Polypropylene Films Induced by 4-Biphenyl Carboxylic Acid, Langmuir (Accessed October 12, 2025)