Influence of a novel β‐nucleating agent on the structure,morphology, and nonisothermal crystallization behavior of isotactic polypropylene

The crystalline structure, morphology, and nonisothermal crystallization behavior of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) with and without a novel rare earth‐containing β‐nucleating agent (WBG) were investigated with wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, polar optical microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. WBG could induce the formation of the β form, and a higher proportion of the β form could be obtained by the combined effect of the optimum WBG concentration and a lower cooling rate. The content of the β form could reach more than 0.90 in a 0.08 wt % WBG nucleated sample at cooling rates lower than 5°C/min. Polar optical microscopy showed that WBG led to substantial changes in both the morphological development and crystallization process of iPP. At all the studied cooling rates, the temperature at which the maximum rate of crystallization occurred was increased by 8–11°C in the presence of the nucleating agent. An analysis of the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics also revealed that the introduction of WBG significantly shortened both the apparent incubation period for crystallization and the overall crystallization time. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

A highly active and selective β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene and crystallization behavior of β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene under rapid cooling

Zinc adipate (Adi‐Zn) was observed to be a highly active and selective β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The effects of Adi‐Zn on the mechanical properties and the β‐crystals content of nucleated iPP were investigated. The impact strength of iPP nucleated with 0.2 wt % Adi‐Zn was 1.8 times higher than that of neat iPP. In addition, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction analysis indicated that the content of β‐crystals in nucleated iPP (k_β value) reached 0.973 with 0.1 wt % Adi‐Zn, indicating that Adi‐Zn is a highly active and selective β‐nucleating agent for iPP. Furthermore, fast scanning chip calorimetry (FSC) studies using cooling rates from 60 to 13,800 °C min^?1 revealed that the formation of β‐crystals significantly depended on the cooling rates. At cooling rates below 3000 °C min^?1, only β‐crystals existed. However, at cooling rates above 6000 °C min^?1, β‐crystals failed to form. Moreover, a lower critical crystallization temperature that corresponded to the generation of β‐crystals was investigated using cooling‐induced crystallization, and the results are in good agreement with those of a previous study. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43767.     

Variation of non‐isothermal crystallization behavior of isotactic polypropylene with varying β‐nucleating agent content

The non‐isothermal crystallization behavior, the crystallization kinetics, the crystallization activation energy and the morphology of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) with varying content of β‐nucleating agent were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The DSC results showed that the Avrami equation modified by Jeziorny and a method developed by Mo and co‐workers could be successfully used to describe the non‐isothermal crystallization process of the nucleated iPPs. The values of n showed that the non‐isothermal crystallization of α‐ and β‐nucleated iPPs corresponded to a tridimensional growth with homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation, respectively. The values of crystallization rate constant showed that the rate of crystallization decreased for iPPs with the addition of β‐nucleating agent. The crystallization activation energy increased with a small amount (less than 0.1 wt%) of β‐nucleating agent and decreased with higher concentration (more than 0.1 wt%). The changes of crystallization rate, crystallization time and crystallization activation energy of iPPs with varying contents of β‐nucleating agent were mainly determined by the ratio of the content of α‐ and β‐phase in iPP (α‐PP and β‐PP) from the DSC investigation, and the large size and many intercrossing lamellae between boundaries of β‐spherulites for iPPs with small amounts of β‐nucleating agent and the small size and few intercrossing bands among the boundaries of β‐spherulites for iPPs with large amounts of β‐nucleating agent from the SEM examination. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

A novel β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene

The nucleating ability of p‐cyclohexylamide carboxybenzene (β‐NA) towards isotactic polypropylene (iPP) was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, X‐ray diffraction, polarized optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. β‐NA is identified to have dual nucleating ability for α‐iPP and β‐iPP under appropriate kinetic conditions. The formation of β‐iPP is dependent on the content of β‐NA. The content of β‐phase can reach as high as 96.96% with the addition of only 0.05 wt% β‐NA. Under non‐isothermal crystallization the content of β‐iPP increases with increasing cooling rate. The maximum β‐crystal content is obtained at a cooling rate of 40 °C min^–1. The supermolecular structure of the β‐iPP is identified as a leaf‐like transcrystalline structure with an ordered lamellae arrangement perpendicular to the special surface of β‐NA. Under isothermal crystallization β‐crystals can be formed in the temperature range 80–140 °C. The content of β‐crystals reaches its maximum value at a crystallization temperature of 130 °C. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of carbon nanotube‐supported β nucleating agent on the thermal properties,morphology, and mechanical properties of polyamide 6/isotactic polypropylene blends

A new kind of β nucleating agent, multi‐wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)‐supported calcium pimelate was introduced into polyamide 6 (PA 6)/isotactic polypropylene (iPP; 10/90 by weight) blend and the thermal properties, morphology, and mechanical properties were investigated. The results showed that β‐iPP appeared at low content of MWCNT‐supported calcium pimelate which surmounted the α‐nucleating effect of PA 6 for iPP, and the content of β‐iPP increased with increasing content of MWCNT‐supported calcium pimelate. The impact strength, elongation at break, and flexural modulus were improved with increasing content of MWCNT‐supported calcium pimelate without significantly deteriorating the tensile strength. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

A novel highly efficient β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene

A novel highly efficient β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene (iPP), hexahydrophthalic barium (HHPA‐Ba), was found and its effects on the mechanical properties, the β‐phase content, and crystallization behavior of iPP were investigated, respectively. The results show that the β‐phase content of nucleated iPP (k_β value) can reach 80.2% with 0.4 wt % HHPA‐Ba. The impact strength and crystallization peak temperature of nucleated iPP are greatly increased. Compared with pure iPP, the impact strength of nucleated iPP can increase 2.4 times. Meanwhile, the spherulite size of nucleated iPP is dramatically decreased than that of pure iPP. The Caze method was used to investigate the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of nucleated iPP and the crystallization active energy was achieved by Kissinger method. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Crystalline morphology and mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene composites filled by wollastonite with β‐nucleating surface

Wollastonite‐filled α‐isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and β‐iPP were prepared through introduction of wollastonite (W) and wollastonite with β‐nucleating surface (W_x) in iPP matrix. The α‐ and β‐nucleating ability of wollastonite, crystalline morphology, and mechanical properties of injected iPP filled by wollastonite with different nucleating surface were compared using differential scanning calorimetry, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, polarizing optical microscopy, mechanical testing, and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that iPP filled by wollastonite with different nucleating surface has different crystalline morphology, melting behavior, and mechanical properties. The W and W_x filled iPP mainly formed α‐ and β‐phase iPP, respectively. The tensile and flexural modulus of iPP/W and iPP/W_x increased with increasing wollastonite content, and the tensile and flexural modulus of iPP/W_x were lower than that of iPP/W. The tensile property, flexural property, and impact strength of iPP/W_x were higher than that of iPP/W and β‐iPP. The synergistic effect of reinforcing of wollastonite and toughening of β‐phase leads to higher mechanical properties. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:1445–1452, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Isothermal crystallization and melting behavior of polypropylene with lanthanum complex of cyclodextrin derivative as a β‐nucleating agent

A novel highly active β‐nucleating agent, β‐cyclodextrin complex with lanthanum (β‐CD‐MAH‐La), was introduced to isotactic polypropylene (iPP). Its influence on isothermal crystallization and melting behavior of iPP was investigated by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), and polarized light microscopy (PLM). WAXD results demonstrated that β‐CD‐MAH‐La was an effective β‐nucleating agent, with β‐crystal content of iPP being strongly influenced by the content of β‐CD‐MAH‐La and the isothermal crystallization temperature. The isothermal crystallization kinetics of pure iPP and iPP/β‐CD‐MAH‐La was described appropriately by Avrami equation, and results revealed that β‐CD‐MAH‐La promoted heterogeneous nucleation and accelerated the crystallization of iPP. In addition, the equilibrium melting temperature (T) of samples was determined using linear and nonlinear Hoffman‐Weeks procedure. Finally, the Lauritzen‐Hoffman secondary nucleation theory was applied to calculate the nucleation parameter (K_g) and the fold surface energy (σ_e), the value of which verify that the addition of β‐CD‐MAH‐La reduced the creation of new surface for β‐crystal and then led to faster crystallization rate. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Nonisothermal crystallization and melting behavior of β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene and polyamide 66 blends

A highly novel nano‐CaCO₃ supported β‐nucleating agent was employed to prepare β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene (iPP) blend with polyamide (PA) 66, β‐nucleated iPP/PA66 blend, as well as its compatibilized version with maleic anhydride grafted PP (PP‐g‐MA), maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene‐octene (POE‐g‐MA), and polyethylene‐vinyl acetate (EVA‐g‐MA), respectively. Nonisothermal crystallization behavior and melting characteristics of β‐nucleated iPP and its blends were investigated by differential scanning calorimeter and wide angle X‐ray diffraction. Experimental results indicated that the crystallization temperature (T) of PP shifts to high temperature in the non‐nucleated PP/PA66 blends because of the α‐nucleating effect of PA66. T of PP and the β‐crystal content (K_β) in β‐nucleated iPP/PA66 blends not only depended on the PA66 content, but also on the compatibilizer type. Addition of PP‐g‐MA and POE‐g‐MA into β‐nucleated iPP/PA66 blends increased the β‐crystal content; however, EVA‐g‐MA is not benefit for the formation of β‐crystal in the compatibilized β‐nucleated iPP/PA66 blend. It can be relative to the different interfacial interactions between PP and compatibilizers. The nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PP in the blends was evaluated by Mo's method. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Effect of syndiotactic polystyrene on the crystallization behavior of isotactic polypropylene/syndiotactic polystyrene blends with and without β‐nucleating agent

Blends of isotactic polypropylene (PP) and syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) with and without β‐nucleating agent were prepared using a twin‐screw extruder at 290 °C. Blends of PP/sPS with β‐nucleating agent mainly show β crystalline form, irrespective of high (20 °C min^?1) or low (2 °C min^?1) previous cooling rates. This suggests that the cooling rates have little effect on the polymorphic composition of PP in PP/sPS blends. The effect of sPS on the crystallization of PP is compared with that of polyamide 6 (PA6). The increase in crystallization temperature of PP is smaller in the presence of sPS than in the presence of PA6; the fold surface free energy of PP/sPS is larger than that of PP/PA6 blends. These results reveal that compared with PA6, sPS has much weaker α‐nucleation effect on the crystallization of PP. The weak α‐nucleation effect of sPS is attributed to the high lattice mismatch between PP and sPS crystals.     

Morphological features and melting behavior of nanocomposites based on isotactic polypropylene and multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Nanocomposites based on low molar mass isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and a low concentrations (1–2 wt %) of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied using thermal analysis, optical and electronic microscopy, and X‐ray diffraction/scattering techniques. It was first determined that MWCNT decrease induction time and act as nucleating agents of the iPP crystals during nonisothermal crystallization. One of the consequences of the nucleation effect was that the original spherulitic morphology of iPP was transformed into a fibrillar‐like. The corresponding long period of the original well‐defined lamellar structure slightly increased suggesting the formation of thicker crystals in samples containing MWCNT. The nature of the α‐iPP crystalline structure was not affected by MWCNT. After nonisothermal crystallization, two melting endotherms were present during thermal scanning of the iPP/MWCNT nanocomposites their proportion changing with the heating rate. After resolving the total DSC signal in its components using MDSC, the overall evolution of such behavior could be explained in terms of the melting/recrystallization mechanism. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007     

Effects of melt structure on non‐isothermal crystallization behavior of isotactic polypropylene nucleated with α/β compounded nucleating agents

In this study, the effects of melt structure (tuned by controlling the fusion temperature T_f) on non‐isothermal crystallization and subsequent melting behaviors of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) nucleated with α/β compounded nucleating agents (α/β‐CNAs) have been further investigated. The results show that under all cooling rates studied (2–40°C/min), the crystallization temperature on cooling curves increased gradually with decrease of T_f, meanwhile, when T_f was in temperature range of 166°C–179°C where ordered structures survived in the melt (defined as Region II), crystallization activation energy ΔE was found to be evidently lower compared with that when T_f > 179°C or T_f < 166°C. The results of subsequent heating showed that occurrence of Ordered Structure Effect can be observed at all the cooling rates studied; the location of the Region II was constant when cooling rate varied; Low cooling rate encouraged formation of more β‐phase triggered by ordered structure. Moreover, the role of ordered structure on β‐α recrystallization was comparatively studied by tuning the end temperature of recooling (T_end) after held at T_f, and it was found that ordered structure encouraged the formation of β‐phase with high thermal stability at low temperature part of Region II, while enhanced the β‐crystal with relatively low thermal stability at high temperature part of Region II. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:989–997, 2017. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Effects of melt structure on crystallization behavior of isotactic polypropylene nucleated with α/β compounded nucleating agents

In this study, the melt structure of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) nucleated with α/β compounded nucleating agents (α/β‐CNA, composed of the α‐NA of 0.15 wt % Millad 3988 and the β‐NA of 0.05 wt % WBG‐II) was tuned by changing the fusion temperature T_f. In this way, the role of melt structure on the crystallization behavior and polymorphic composition of iPP were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that when T_f = 200°C (iPP was fully molten), the α/β‐CNA cannot encourage β‐phase crystallization since the nucleation efficiency (NE) of the α‐NA 3988 was obviously higher than that of the β‐NA WBG‐II. Surprisingly, when T_f was in 179–167°C, an amount of ordered structures survived in the melt, resulting in significant increase of the proportion of β‐phase (achieving 74.9% at maximum), indicating that the ordered structures of iPP played determining role in β‐phase crystallization of iPP nucleated with the α/β‐CNA. Further investigation on iPP respectively nucleated with individual 3988 and WBG‐II showed that as T_f decreased from 200°C to 167°C, the crystallization peak temperature T_c of iPP/3988 stayed almost constant, while T_c of iPP/WBG‐II increased gradually when T_f < 189°C and became higher than that of iPP/3988 when T_f decreased to 179°C and lower, which can be used to explain the influence of ordered structure and α/β‐CNA on iPP crystallization. Using this method, the selection of α‐NA for α/β‐CNA can be greatly expanded even if the inherent NE of β‐NA is lower than that of the α‐NA. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41355.     

Activity of a β‐nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene and its influence on polymorphic transitions

The influence of a nonpigmenting β‐nucleating additive in the crystallization of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) is investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and X‐ray diffraction. It is found that this additive induces the formation of a very high level of the trigonal modification of iPP. The crystallization and melting behavior of the nucleated systems are studied as a function of the cooling and heating rates and the control of the final temperature during the cooling process. The nucleating agent exerts an important effect on the crystallization temperatures and the polymorphic transitions of iPP, delaying the β–α recrystallization process through an increase in the stability of the trigonal crystals. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 531–539, 2002     

Isothermal crystallization kinetics and subsequent melting behavior of β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene/graphene oxide composites with different ordered structure

The effects of ordered structure on isothermal crystallization kinetics and subsequent melting behavior of β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene/graphene oxide (iPP/GO) composites were studied using differential scanning calorimetry. The ordered structure status was controlled by tuning the fusion temperature (T_f). The results showed that depending on the variation of crystallization rate, the whole T_f range could be divided into three regions: Region I (T_f > 179 °C), Region II (170 °C ≤ T_f ≤ 179 °C) and Region III (T_f < 170 °C). As T_f decreased from Region I to Region III, the crystallization rate would increase substantially at two transition points, due to the variation of the ordered structure status. Calculation of Avrami exponent n indicated that the ordered structure induced the formation of two‐dimensional growing crystallites rather than three‐dimensional growing crystallites. Moreover, in the case of isothermal crystallization, the ordered structure effect (OSE) can also greatly increase the relative content of β‐phase (β_c). In Region II, OSE took place, resulting in evident increase of β_c, achieving 92.4% at maximum. The variation of the isothermal crystallization temperature (T_iso) had little influence on the T_f range (Region II) of the OSE. The higher T_f in Region II was more favorable for the formation of higher β_c. The ordered structure was favorable for the improvement of the nucleating efficiency of β‐nucleating agent (β‐NE), and was more effective for the improvement of lower β‐NE. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Highly active thermally stable β‐nucleating agents for isotactic polypropylene

Calcium salts of suberic (Ca‐Sub) and pimelic (Ca‐Pim) acids were synthesized and implemented as in different grades of isotactic polypropylene (iPP). Propylene homopolymer, as well as random and block copolymers containing these additives, crystallized iPP into pure or nearly pure β modification in the isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization experiments. Recently, Ca‐Sub proved to be the most effective β‐nucleating agent of iPP. The Ca‐Sub nucleating agent widens the upper crystallization temperature range of pure β‐iPP formation up to 140°C. In this study the effect of the these additives on the crystallization, melting characteristics, and structure of the PP were studied. The degree of crystallinity of β‐iPP was markedly higher than that of α‐iPP. A widening in the melting peak of the samples crystallized in a high temperature range was first observed and discussed in regard to literature results of the same phenomenon for α‐iPP. The morphology of the β‐iPP samples was revealed by scanning electron microscopy. Independent of the type of polymer or nucleating agent, hedritic structures were found in the early stages of growth of the β‐spherulites. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 2357–2368, 1999     

Effect of nucleating agent addition on crystallization of isotactic polypropylene

The isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of nonnucleated and nucleated isotactic polypropylene (iPP) were investigated by DSC and a polarized light microscope with a hot stage. Dibenzylidene sorbitol (DBS) was used as a nucleating agent. It was found that the crystallization rate increased with the addition of DBS. The influence of DBS on fold surface energy, σ_e, was examined by the Hoffman and Lauritzen nucleation theory. It showed that σ_e decreased with the addition of DBS, suggesting that DBS is an effective nucleating agent for iPP. Ozawa's theory was used to study the nonisothermal crystallization. It was found that the crystallization temperature for the nucleated iPP was higher than that for nonnucleated iPP. The addition of DBS reduced the Ozawa exponent, suggesting a change in spherulite morphology. The cooling crystallization function has a negative exponent on the crystallization temperature. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 69: 2089–2095, 1998     

Influence of injection rate on crystallization of injection‐molded β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene

It is widely believed that β ‐nucleating agent is beneficial for effectively toughening isotactic polypropylene (iPP). However, for the injection molding process, the shearing and thermo‐mechanical conditions make the nucleation and crystallization process complicated. In this paper, the effects of injection rate on crystallization of β ‐nucleated iPP were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM), two‐dimensional wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It is observed that with increasing injection rate, the content of β ‐crystals exhibits different tendencies in the skin, intermediate layers, and core zone. Specifically, for the intermediate layer, the β ‐crystals content first increases with increasing injection rate to 85 cm·s^?1, and begins to decrease afterward. By simulating the injection process, the most likely explanation for the β ‐crystal change is the comparatively high shear rate and low shearing time that the melt experienced. Variations in β ‐form content are mainly responsible for the mechanical properties of β ‐nucleated iPP. The results of this study provide a valuable way to control the iPP toughness in the injection molding process. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:172–182, 2017. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Effect of polystyrenes with different architectures on the β‐nucleating efficiency and toughening of isotactic polypropylene

The effect of polystyrenes (PSs) with different architectures (three‐arm star‐shaped polystyrene (sPS), comb‐like branched polystyrene (cPS) and linear polystyrene) on their β‐nucleating efficiency for isotactic polypropylene (iPP) during crystallization and final impact and the tensile properties of iPP/PS blends were investigated by dynamic rheological measurements, SEM, DSC, polarized optical microscopy, wide angle X‐ray diffraction and mechanical property measurements. The results show that the architecture of PS has marked influence on its dispersibility in iPP and β‐nucleating efficiency. For iPP/cPS blend, plenty of short side chains reduce the probability of cPS chain entanglements, facilitating the interdiffusion between iPP and cPS chains. A favorable interfacial interaction results in good dispersibility, high β nucleating efficiency and an excellent toughening effect of cPS on iPP. However, the relatively high chain entanglement degree of sPS may not be in favor of chain diffusion between iPP and sPS and therefore relatively poor dispersibility and toughening effect are obtained. The elongation at break and impact strength of iPP were dramatically improved, especially with the addition of 1 wt% cPS. The toughening mechanism of PS on iPP is the dissipated energy caused by cavitation and the β‐nucleating effect of PS. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Investigation on the morphology and tensile behavior of β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene with different stereo‐defect distribution

Large amount of work has been published on the tacticity‐properties relationship of isotactic polypropylene (iPP). However, the stereo‐defect distribution dependence of morphology and mechanical properties of β‐nucleated iPP (β‐iPP) is still not clear. In this study, two different iPP resins (PP‐A and PP‐B) with similar average isotacticity but different uniformities of stereo‐defect distribution were selected, their β‐iPP injection molding specimens were prepared, and the morphology evolution and tensile behaviors were studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), 2D wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (2D‐WAXD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). DSC results showed that with the same concentration of β‐nucleating agent (0.3 wt % WBG‐II), PP‐B with more uniform stereo‐defect distribution exhibited more amount of β‐phase than that of PP‐A with less uniform stereo‐defect distribution, indicating that PP‐B is more favorable for the formation of β‐phase. SEM results showed that PP‐B formed more amount of β‐crystals with relatively high structural perfection, while in PP‐A a mixed morphology of α‐ and β‐phase with obviously higher amount of structural imperfection emerges. The results of room‐temperature tensile test indicated that the yield peak width of PP‐B was obviously wider, and the elongation at break of PP‐B was higher than that of PP‐A, showing a better ductile of PP‐B. The morphology evolution results of SEM, 2D‐WAXD and DSC suggest that, a combination of lamellar deformation and amorphous deformation occurred in PP‐A, while only amorphous deformation mainly took place in PP‐B, which was thought to be the reason for the different tensile behaviors of the samples. In the production of β‐PP products via injection molding, the uniformity of stereo‐defect distribution was found to be an important factor. PP with more uniform distribution of stereo‐defect favors the formation of large amount of β‐phase with high perfection, which exhibit superior ductile property. The related mechanism was discussed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2014 , 131, 40027.