Simultaneously improving tensile strength and toughness of melt‐spun β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene fibers

Polymer processing methods generally play a crucial role in determining the development of microstructure in the fabricated product. In this study, isotactic polypropylene (iPP) melt containing 0.05 wt % β‐nucleating agent (β‐NA) was extruded via a melt flow rate indicator. The molten extrudate was stretched into a fiber upon various take‐up velocities (TVs). The microstructures of the fiber were investigated by differential scanning calorimeter, two‐dimensional wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, and small‐angle X‐ray scattering. Also, its tensile properties (including tensile strength, modulus, elongation at break, and toughness) were measured by tensile test. Interestingly, the tensile strength (135.0 MPa) of a melt‐spun β‐nucleated iPP fiber fabricated at 400 cm/min was enhanced by 115.2%, compared with that (62.7 MPa) prepared at 100 cm/min, with a considerable increment in toughness (from 661 to 853 MJ/m³). The enhancement mechanism for tensile properties was discussed based on the microstructures. This work offers a simple approach to prepare β‐nucleated iPP fibers with excellent strength and toughness. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43454.     

Effect of solid‐state shear milling on structure and properties of HDPE/UHMWPE blends

The structure and properties of HDPE/UHMWPE blends prepared through a pan‐milling reactor in solid state at ambient temperature were compared with the blends made by melt mixing. The changes of structure and properties of the blends were investigated by FTIR, melt flow index, mechanical properties, dynamic rheological measurement, DSC, and WAXD. DSC measurement illustrated that after pan‐milling treatment, the half‐width of the melting temperature became smaller. The more content of UHMWPE added in the blend, the more evident change was observed. Combined with the dynamic rheological analysis, it was proved that, the pan‐milling treatment can improve the compatibility of the HDPE/UHMWPE blends. X‐ray diffraction analysis showed that after pan‐milling treatment some ordered structure could be induced, but after heat treatment, the induced crystalline structure disappeared. The tensile properties of pan‐milled HDPE/UHMWPE blends also achieved improvement after pan milling treatment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 39916.     

Influences of pre‐ordered melt structures on the crystallization behavior and polymorphic composition of β‐nucleated isotactic polypropylene with different stereo‐defect distribution

As part of continuous efforts to understand the surprising synergetic effect between β‐nucleating agent and pre‐ordered structures of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in significant enhancement of β‐crystallization (Ordered Structure Effect, OSE), two β‐nucleated iPP with different uniformities of stereo‐defect distribution (WPP‐A and WPP‐B) were prepared, their crystallization behaviors with variation of melt structures were studied in detail. The results revealed that β‐phase can hardly form in WPP‐A (whose stereo‐defect distribution is less uniform) because of its strong tendency of α‐nucleation caused by its less uniform stereo‐defect distribution, while WPP‐B is more favorable for β‐crystallization; As fusion temperature decreases, similar variation trends of crystallization temperature and β‐phase proportion can be observed from WPP‐A and WPP‐B, indicating the occurrence of OSE behavior, which provides unsurpassed β‐nucleation efficiency and induces β‐crystallization even in WPP‐A which is less favorable for β‐crystallization; moreover, the upper and lower limiting temperatures of Region II of WPP‐A and WPP‐B are identical, suggesting the uniformity of stereo‐defect distribution has little influence on temperature window for OSE (denoted as Region II). To explore the physical nature of Region II, self‐nucleation behavior and equilibrium melting temperature of PP‐A and PP‐B were studied. The lower limiting temperatures of exclusive self‐nucleation domain of both PP‐A and PP‐B are identical with the lower limiting temperatures of Region II in OSE (168°C); moreover, the T_m⁰ of both PP‐A and PP‐B are close to their upper limiting temperatures of Region II in OSE behavior (189°C). The possible explanation was proposed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42632.     

Effect of high‐temperature annealing on the elastoplastic response of isotactic polypropylene in loading–unloading tests

A series of uniaxial tensile loading–unloading tests is performed on isotactic polypropylene at room temperature. Prior to mechanical testing, injection‐molded specimens are annealed for 24 h at temperatures T = 145, 150, 155, 158, 160, 163, and 165°C, which cover the entire region of high‐temperature annealing temperatures. A constitutive model is developed for the elastoplastic behavior of a semicrystalline polymer at small strains. The stress–strain relations are determined by six adjustable parameters that are found by matching observations in cyclic tests. Fair agreement is demonstrated between the experimental data and the results of numerical simulation. It is shown that all material constants are affected by the annealing temperature, which is explained by changes in the crystalline morphology driven by thermal treatment. Some of the adjustable parameters experience finite jumps in the vicinity of the critical temperature T_c = 159°C. These jumps are attributed to the α₂ → α₂′ phase transformation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 186–196, 2003     

Tailoring the crystalline morphologies and mechanical properties of high‐density polyethylene parts by a change in the fluid flow pattern under gas‐assisted injection molding

In this study, an increase in the cooling rate of high‐density polyethylene parts was carried out via a change in the fluid flow pattern to introduce gas cooling under a gas‐assisted injection‐molding process; this was conducive to the retention of orientation chains shaped during the injection stage and further developed into much more oriented crystals. Morphological observation showed that the parts without gas cooling (WOGC) were composed of oriented crystals except the gas channel zone, whereas the parts with gas cooling (WGC) were full of oriented crystals, especially much more interlocking shish‐kebab structures in the subskin zone. The WGC parts had a higher degree of orientation than the corresponding zone of the WOGC parts. Although the lower crystallinity, the wider orientation regions, and much more interlocking shish‐kebab structures led to considerable increases from 32 and 990 MPa in the WOGC parts to 36 and 1150 MPa in the WGC parts for the yield strength and elastic modulus, respectively. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40349.     

Enhanced crystallization of poly(L‐lactide‐co‐ε‐caprolactone) in the presence of water

Poly(L ‐lactide‐co‐ε‐caprolactone) [P(LLA‐CL)], which is used in biodegradable biomedical materials such as drug‐delivery systems, surgical sutures, orthopedics, and scaffolds for tissue engineering, has been reported to crystallize upon storage in a dry state even at room temperature; this results in rapid changes in the mechanical properties. In biomedical applications, P(LLA‐CL) is used in the presence of water. This study investigated the effects of water on the crystallization of P(LLA‐CL) at 37°C in phosphate buffered solution, which was anticipated to alter its mechanical properties and hydrolytic degradation behavior. Surprisingly, the crystallinity of P(LLA‐CL) in the presence of water rapidly increased in 6–12 h and then slowly increased up to 120 h. The period of time for the initial rapid crystallization increase in the presence of water was much shorter than that in the absence of water. The obtained information would be useful for the selection, preparation, and use of P(LLA‐CL) in various biomedical applications. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Synergistic effects of β‐modification and impact polypropylene copolymer on brittle‐ductile transition of polypropylene random copolymer

In this work, the synergistic effects of β‐modification and impact polypropylene copolymer (IPC) on brittle–ductile (B–D) transition behavior of polypropylene random copolymer (PPR) have been investigated. It is interesting to find that adding both IPC and β‐nucleating agent into PPR has three effects: (i) leading to a significant enhancement in β‐crystallization capability of PPR, (ii) contributing to the shift of B–D transition to lower temperatures, (iii) increasing the B–D transition rate. The reason for these changes can be interpreted from the following two aspects. On one hand, the transition of crystalline structure from α‐form to β‐form reduces the plastic resistance of PPR matrix, thus causing the initiation of matrix shear yielding much easier during the impact process. On the other hand, the well dispersed rubbery phase in IPC with high molecular mobility at relatively low temperatures is beneficial to the shear yielding of PPR matrix and, subsequently, the great improvement in impact toughness of the ternary blends. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Improvement of the impact strength of ethylene‐propylene random copolymers by nucleation

Five ethylene‐propylene random copolymers were nucleated with two soluble nucleating agents. Ethylene content changed between 1.7 and 5.3 wt %, while nucleating agent content was adjusted according to the solubility of the additive. It changed from 0 to 5000 ppm for the sorbitol (1,2,3‐tridesoxy‐4,6:5,7‐bis‐O‐[(4‐propylphenyl) methylene]‐nonitol) and from 0 to 500 ppm for the trisamide compound (1,3,5‐benzene‐trisamide) used. Crystalline structure was analyzed in detail by various methods (DSC, XRD, and SEM). Mechanical properties were characterized by tensile and instrumented impact measurements. The results showed that most properties changed moderately upon nucleation, but impact resistance increased considerably. Spherulitic structure was not detected, but instead in the presence of the soluble nucleating agents used a microcrystalline structure formed. The large increase of impact resistance could not be related directly to changes in crystalline morphology. On the other hand, local rearrangement of morphology was detected by XRD and SEM analysis including an increase of lamella thickness, crystal orientation, and the formation of shish‐kebab structures in the core of the injection molded specimens. A small increase in the γ‐phase content of PP was also observed. These changes increased crack propagation energy considerably leading to the large improvement observed in impact resistance. Although the phenomenon could be related to ethylene content, differences in molecular weight also helped to explain the changes observed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43823.     

Crystallization behavior of poly(p‐dioxanone)‐PU/montmorillonite nanocomposites prepared by chain‐extending reaction

Organo‐modified montmorillonites and poly(p‐dioxanone) (PPDO) diol prepolymers were used to prepare Poly(p‐dioxanone)‐PU/organic montmorillonite (PPDO‐PU/OMMT) nanocomposites by chain‐extending reaction. The crystallization behavior and spherulitic morphology of PPDO‐PU/OMMT nanocomposites were investigated by WXRD, differential scanning calorimetry, and polarized optical microscopy. The results show that the regularity of the chain structure plays a dominant role during the crystallization process rather than that of OMMT content and its dispersion status in PPDO matrix. With similar molecular weight and same OMMT content, PPDO‐PU/OMMT nanocomposite, which derived from lower molecular weight PPDO prepolymer, exhibits lower crystallization rate, melting point, and crystallinity. The influence of the clay content on the crystallization behavior highly depends on its dispersing state. The nucleating effect of OMMT can be only observed at high loading percentage. For the nanocomposites with low clay loading percentage, the retarding effect of exfoliated platelets on the chain‐ordering into crystal lamellae became the key factor. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Shrinkage behavior after the heat setting of biaxially stretched poly(ethylene 2,6‐naphthalate) films and bottles

Amorphous preforms of poly(ethylene 2,6‐naphthalate) (PEN) were biaxially drawn into bottles up to the desired volume under industrial conditions. These bottles were used to characterize the shrinkage behavior of the drawn bottles with or without heat treatment and to study structural variations during heat setting. During drawing, a rigid phase structure was induced, and the amount of the induced rigid phase structure was linearly related to the square root of the extra first strain invariant under equilibrium conditions. During the production of these bottles, this equilibrium was not attained because of high stretching conditions and rapid cooling after stretching. The structure after orientation contained a rigid amorphous phase and an oriented amorphous phase. The shrinkage behavior was a function of the temperature and time of heat setting. Long heat‐setting times, around 30 min, were used to characterize the possible structural variations of the oriented PEN after heat setting at equilibrium. Under the equilibrium conditions of heat setting, the start temperature of the shrinkage was directly related to the heat‐setting temperature and moved from 60°C without heat treatment up to a temperature of 255°C by a heat‐setting temperature of 255°C; this contrasted with poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), for which the start temperature of shrinkage was always around 80°C. For heat‐setting temperatures higher than 220°C, the structural variations changed rapidly as a function of the heat‐setting time, and the corresponding shrinkage of the heat‐set samples sank below 1% in a timescale of 30–60 s for a film thickness of 500 μm. The heat treatment of the oriented films taken out of the bottle walls with fixed ends stabilized the induced structures, and the shrinkage of these heat‐set films was zero for temperatures up to the heat‐setting temperature, between 220 and 265°C, if the heat‐setting time was sufficient. According to the results obtained, a heat‐setting time of 30 s, for a film thickness of 500 μm, was sufficient at a heat‐setting temperature of 255°C to stabilize the produced biaxially oriented PEN bottles and to take them out the mold without further shrinkage. During the drawing of PEN, two different types of rigid amorphous phases seemed to be induced, one with a mean shrinkage temperature of 151°C and another rigid amorphous phase, more temperature‐stable than the first one, that shrank in the temperature range of 200–310°C. During heat setting at high temperatures, a continuous transformation of the less stable phase into the very stable phase took place. The heat‐set method after blow molding is industrially possible with PEN, without the complicated process of subsequent cooling before the molds are opened, in contrast to PET. This constitutes a big advantage for the blow molding of PEN bottles and the production of oriented PEN films. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 1462–1473, 2003     

Effect of annealing on the structure and properties of polyvinylidene fluoride hollow fiber by melt‐spinning

Polyvinylidene fluoride hollow fibers were prepared by melt‐spinning technique under three spinning temperatures. The effects of annealing treatment on the structure and properties of hollow fiber were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), tensile test, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. DSC and WAXD results indicated that the annealing not only produced secondary crystallization but also perfected primary crystallization, and spinning and annealing temperature influenced the crystallinity of hollow fiber: the crystallinity decreased with the increase of spinning temperature; 140°C annealing increased the crystallinity, and hardly influenced the orientation of hollow fiber; above 150°C annealing increased the crystallinity as well, and furthermore had a comparative effect on the orientation. The tensile tests showed that the annealed samples, which did not present the obvious yield point, exhibited characteristics of hard elasticity, and all the hollow fiber had no neck phenomenon. Compared with the annealed sample, the precursor presented a clear yield point. In addition, the annealed samples had a higher break strength and initial modulus by contrast with the precursor, and the 140°C annealed sample showed the smallest break elongation. SEM demonstrated the micro‐fiber structure appeared in surface of drawn sample. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 935–941, 2007     

The dominant factor for mechanical property of polyimide films containing heterocyclic moieties: In‐plane orientation,crystallization, or hydrogen bonding

Crystallization, in‐plane orientation, and hydrogen bonding interactions are three vital factors for enhancing mechanical properties of polyimide (PI) films. However, which is the dominant factor? In this study, three PI films containing heterocyclic moiety, poly(benzoxazole‐imide), poly(benzimidazole‐imide), and poly(pyrimidine‐imide) were chosen to comparative study. The crystallinity of poly(benzoxazole‐imide), poly(benzimidazole‐imide), and poly(pyrimidine‐imide) PI films are 36, 24, and 15%, respectively. The results of small angle X‐ray scattering indicate poly(benzoxazole‐imide) and poly(benzimidazole‐imide) films show periodical lamellar structures, while poly(pyrimidine‐imide) shows no long period due to low crystallinity. In‐plane orientation (P₂₀₀) is calculated from polarized attenuated total reflection (ATR)‐Fourier transform infrared and refractive indices. The order of in‐plane orientation is poly(benzimidazole‐imide) < poly(benzoxazole‐imide) < poly(pyrimidine‐imide). Hydrogen bonding interactions, which restrict chain motion and hinder spontaneous in‐plane orientation, are only formed in poly(benzimidazole‐imide). The relationship between mechanical properties and three influence factors are discussed, and the order of influence extent for mechanical properties of PI films is hydrogen bonding interactions < degree of crystallization < in‐plane orientation. Two structure models for PI films are proposed in order to further confirm the dominant effect of in‐plane orientation on the mechanical properties. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44000.     

PFG‐NMR measurement of self‐diffusion coefficients of long‐chain α‐olefins and their mixtures in semi‐crystalline polyethylene

The self‐diffusion coefficients of C6–C16 long‐chain α‐olefins and their mixtures in semi‐crystalline polyethylene were measured through the pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG‐NMR). The effects of chain length, polyethylene (PE) type, and co‐monomer type in PE on the diffusion coefficients were investigated. Moreover, the influence of halohydrocarbon, cycloalkanes, and arene solvents on the diffusion coefficients of C12 α‐olefin in PE was characterized. The results have demonstrated that the diffusion coefficient of the single‐component α‐olefin in PE decreases exponentially with the increase of the carbon number of α‐olefin, and the crystallinity and crystal morphology of PE play a more important role than the co‐monomer type in determining the diffusion coefficients of α‐olefins. In addition, the apparent diffusion coefficients were used to represent the diffusion behaviors of the α‐olefin mixtures in PE. Owing to the presence of other hydrocarbon solvents, namely trichloromethane, cyclohexane, and benzene, the diffusion coefficients of C12 long‐chain α‐olefin in PE are significantly enhanced, and such promoting effect of the hydrocarbon solvents in polyolefin elastomer (POE) is much stronger than those in high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44143.     

Thermal properties and miscibility of semi‐crystalline and amorphous PLA blends

The focus of this research is the study of the microstructures and miscibility at the interface between semi‐crystalline and amorphous PLAs [poly (l ‐lactic acid)(PLLA) with poly (l ,d ‐lactic acid)(PDLLA), respectively]. The blends are prepared through thermal processing (extrusion and hot‐pressing). To increase the area of interface between PDLLA and PLLA, the fibers from PLLA and PDLLA are used. Thermal and microstructures of the blends were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), dynamic thermogravimetric analysis(DMA), small‐angle X‐ray diffraction(SAXS) and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD). The two PLAs are miscible in molten state. However, phase separation is detected after various thermal treatments, with PDLLA being excluded from the regions of interlamellar PLLA regions when PDLLA content is low, as determined from X‐ray diffraction studies. The compatibility between the two PLAs is not perfect in the molten state, since enthalpies of the various blends at T_g are lower than any pure PLA material. The semi‐crystalline PLLA fiber can recrystallize alone in the molten amorphous PDLLA, and a higher nuclei density is observed at the interface. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 41205.     

Structure development during crystallization and solid‐state processing of poly(glycolic acid)

DSC and time‐resolved WAXS and SAXS are used to study the structure development during isothermal crystallization of poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) in the temperature range 180–195°C. It is shown that the crystallization rate increases with degree of supercooling in the temperature range of consideration. WAXS and DSC crystallinity measurements agree well and a final crystallinity of 50% is found independently of the crystallization temperature. In‐situ SAXS measurements indicate that for PGA the final crystal thickness approaches a limiting value of 70 Å independent of the crystallization temperature in the range 195–180°C. The material develops a well‐defined lamellar structure during crystallization at the highest crystallization temperature under study (195°C). We show that by increasing the degree of supercooling it is possible to hinder the formation of the lamellar structure and crystals, resulting in a less ordered structure. We report that PGA fibers with elastic modulus in the range 20–25 GPa can be prepared by adequate control of the structure before solid‐state plastic deformation. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Study on fracture behavior of PLLA transcrystallization: Effect of crystalline morphology

In the present work, the fracture behavior of transcrystallization (TC) of poly(l ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) in thin film and the dependence of mechanical properties on the morphology of TC have been studied. The nucleation density of TC was merely determined by the annealing temperatures of the fibers which used for inducing nucleation, and the crystallization temperature and time of the samples were completely identical. By using in situ polarized optical microscopy, the fracture process of TCs was characterized. For the TC with high nucleating density (TC‐H), lots of cracks were generated from the TC bulk during fracture. But only few cracks were observed on the TC with low nucleation density (TC‐L), and the final fracture of TC‐L always occurred in the junctions of crystal segments. Compared to the samples which do not contain TC, the fracture strength was enhanced by 8.1% because of the presence of TC‐H. On the contrary, the presence of TC‐L can reduce the fracture strength of the samples. The fracture surfaces of TC were characterized by scanning electron microscope. It was observed that the fracture surface of TC‐H exhibited obvious fibrillation and cavitation, but the fracture surface of TC‐L was smooth and featureless. The possible fracture mechanism for two TCs was discussed in view of their intrinsic crystal organizations. © 2014 The Authors Journal of Applied Polymer Science Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41273.     

Study on correlation of filtration performance and charge behavior and crystalline structure for melt‐blown polypropylene electret fabrics

Melt‐blown polypropylene (PP) electret fabrics are widely used as air filter media due to the specific mechanism of electrostatic filtering. In this article, two additives, stearate and modified rosin, are doped to PP fabrics during melt‐blown process. The filtration performance of doped PP gets improved greatly, with filtration efficiency increased by 6% at room temperature but its temperature stability promoted dramatically. As a result, the filtration efficiency of doped PP still remains above 95% of its initial, whereas that of non‐doped PP only remains 58% at 110°C. By XRD characterization the structure modification is observed after doping. The crystallinity increases from 14.17% to 22.64% and 29.62%, respectively. Meanwhile, the crystallite has a smaller size, respectively, 89Å and 86Å as compared to 107Å for non‐doping in the direction vertical to lattice plane (110). This demonstrates that additive doping can give rise to larger crystallinity and more fine‐grained crystallite. Therefore, doped PP improves its charge storage behavior ascribing to expanding interface between crystallite and amorphous region and then enlarging charge trap density. Furthermore, the effect of additive doping on electret charge storage behavior is investigated by short‐circuit TSD, and the filtration performance can be explained relevantly with TSD. A charge storage profile is also adopted to illustrate that the space charge captured by charge traps is in the form of space‐charge dipole with the rigidity of crystallite. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42807.     

Influence of extrusion temperature on molecular architecture and crystallization behavior of peroxide‐induced slightly crosslinked poly(L‐lactide) by reactive extrusion

The influence of temperature during reactive extrusion of poly(L ‐lactide) (PLLA) on the molecular architecture and crystallization behavior was investigated for OO‐(t‐butyl) O‐(2‐ethylhexyl) peroxycarbonate‐modified polymer. The long chain–branched PLLA (LCB‐PLLA) content and its structure in the resulting slightly crosslinked PLLA (χ‐PLLA) containing linear and LCB‐PLLA were characterized by both analyses, size exclusion chromatography equipped with multiangle laser light scattering and rheological measurements. A reduction of LCB‐PLLA content in χ‐PLLA and an increase of number of branches in LCB‐PLLA were found with increasing the extrusion temperature. An increase of extrusion temperature induces different process in the polymer: decrease of the lifetime of peroxide, increase of the radical concentration due to rapid peroxide decomposition rate, and increase of the chain diffusion to the amorphous phase. Among these indices, the lifetime of peroxide is a good index for crosslinking behavior of PLLA during extrusion. As for the isothermal crystallization behavior from the melt, the Avrami crystallization rate constant of χ‐PLLA increases as an increase of LCB‐PLLA content in χ‐PLLA. This implies that LCB‐PLLA acts as a nucleating agent for PLLA. Furthermore, regime analysis and the free energy of nucleus of χ‐PLLA were investigated using Hoffman–Lauritzen theory. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

The effect of epoxy and tetramethyl thiuram disulfide on melt‐grafting of maleic anhydride onto polypropylene by reactive extrusion

In this report, melt grafting of maleic anhydride (MAH) and epoxy resin onto polypropylene (PP) by peroxide‐initiated reactive extrusion has been investigated. As evidenced by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, both MAH and epoxy resin were successfully grafted onto PP through the reactions of MAH with PP and epoxy resin with MAH. It was found that tetramethyl thiuram disulfide could promote the grafting of MAH and inhibit the degradation of PP, as revealed by chemical titration and melt flow experiments, through prolonging the lifetime of the macroradical; meanwhile, epoxy resin could reduce the sublimation of MAH and the maximum grafting degree of MAH. Furthermore, the introduction of grafted products was found to enhance the mechanical properties of PP/glass fiber composites, and this influence was very significant at high grafting degrees with a high content of epoxy resin, which could be interpreted in terms of improved compatibility and adhesion at the interface. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43422.     

Facile preparation for robust and freestanding silk fibroin films in a 1‐butyl‐3‐methyl imidazolium acetate ionic liquid system

Silk fibroin film (SFF) with excellent mechanical properties was prepared for the first time with Bombyx mori silk fibroin as the material and 1‐butyl‐3‐methyl imidazolium acetate ([Bmim]OAc) ionic liquid (IL) as the solvent. The aim was to understand whether the microstructure of SFF could be modified and whether the mechanical properties were improved when [Bmim]OAc IL was used as a solution. With this new system, the obtained SFF was easily peeled off of the substrate, and the silk fibroin proteins retained the α‐helix secondary structure (silk I). Further test results show that the tensile strength (126.8–129.7 MPa) and anti‐UV performance were stronger than the silk fibroin regenerated by traditional ways. Therefore, this study provided and identified a new method with [Bmim]OAc to obtain SFF with strong mechanical properties. This facile preparation and related SFF with excellent mechanical strength could have potential applications in biocompatible implants, synthetic coatings for artificial skin, and many other areas. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42822.