Ultrasonic Degradation Studies and Its Effect on Thermal Properties of Polypropylene

In this article, the ultrasonic degradation of polypropylene (PP) melt was conducted in a specially designed reactor. Dynamic stress rheometer and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) were used to study the degradation behavior of PP melt. Thermal properties of ultrasonically treated PP were further discussed. The results showed the decrease of complex viscosity, zero shear viscosity, representative relaxation time, viscoelastic moduli as well as cross-over modulus, but an increase of cross-over frequency with introduction of ultrasonic irradiation, due to reduction of weight average molecular weight and increase of molecular weight distribution index of the polymer. The ultrasonic chain scissions of PP melt mainly occurred at the initial 3 min of irradiation and subsequently tended to terminate under our experimental conditions. In addition, the crystallization temperature and melting temperature of PP together got decreased in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation due to the occurrence of lower molecular weight components and some chemical irregularities in PP chain, along with the slight increase of crystallinity.