Crystallization and melting behavior of iPP studied by DSC

This article is a part of a study of model and bulk composites, based on isotactic polypropylene (i-PP) and glass (or carbon) fibers, produced from knitted textile preforms of hybrid yarns. First, we report the results on crystallization and fusion of textile-grade i-PP, used for the processing of hybrid yarns and the corresponding knitted fabrics. The kinetics of the crystallization process, in the dynamic and isothermal regime, was followed by DSC, and the results were analyzed by Avrami, Ozawa, and Harnisch-Muschik methods. Isothermal crystallization of i-PP was carried out at 388-400 K, and values for the Avrami exponent ranging from 1.93 to 4.39 were determined. The equilibrium melting temperature was determined by the Hoffman-Weeks method, and gamma = 2.54 was found. Double melting peaks were observed both when the crystallization was performed at lower temperatures (isothermal regime) and at higher cooling rates (nonisothermal regime). A single melting peak appeared upon melting following isothermal crystallization at 400 K. The nonisothermal kinetics data showed that the peak crystallization temperature changes from 377 to 386 K as the cooling rate decreases from 20 to 3 K/min. Applying the Ozawa method, a value of the exponent n = 2.33 was determined, which is in agreement with the results for isothermal crystallization at 391-400 K. The Harnisch-Muschik approach was also applied to compare the results for n, and a similar trend in the results of isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization was found, due to the predominant homogeneous mechanism of nucleation at lower cooling rates (lower isothermal T-c) in spite of being heterogeneous at higher cooling rates (higher isothermal T-c). (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.