Studies on crystal morphology and crystallization kinetics of polypropylene filled with CaCO3 of different size and size distribution

Changes in the crystal morphology, crystallinity, and the melting temperature of thermoplastics resulted in significant changes in the mechanical behavior of composites containing them. For this reason, the research of crystal morphology and crystallization kinetics in thermoplastic composites became an important requirement. The thermoplastic filled with the filler of different size gradation was a new method for improving processability of thermoplastic composites. We have previously reported that the melt viscosity of polypropylene (PP) composites, which were filled with 30 wt % CaCO₃ of effective size gradation, could be evidently declined. In this study, two sizes of CaCO₃, 325 meshes and 1500 meshes, were blended by different proportions and filled into PP matrix with 30 wt %. Crystal morphology and isothermal crystallization kinetics of a series of composites were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and polarizing microscope. The results showed that composites filled with CaCO₃ of effective size gradation leaded to a well‐crystalline order and a large crystal size, while their isothermal crystallization kinetics and crystallization rate constant (k) were declined, and their Avrami exponents (n) and crystallization half‐life (t_1/2) were increased compared with the composites filled with single size CaCO₃. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 2437–2444, 2006