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Analysis of brittle–ductile transition of polypropylene/ethylene-octene copolymer blends by scanning electron microscopy and small angle laser light scattering

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Abstract

Blends of polypropylene (PP)/ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC) were studied. The influences of blend composition and mixing time on phase morphology development of the blends were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and on-line small-angle light scattering (SALS) in detail. The toughness of the PP/EOC blends was investigated over wide ranges of EOC content and determined from the impact fracture energy of the side-edge notched samples. The concept of interparticle distance (ID) and the surface-to-surface interparticle distance (τ) were introduced into this study to probe the size effect on the brittle–ductile transition (BDT) of PP/EOC blends. The results showed that ID based on the SEM photograph and the surface-to-surface interparticle distance (τ) getting from SALS have similar effects on charactering the toughness of the PP/EOC blends. But the surface-to-surface interparticle distance (τ) is more prone to character the BDT of PP/EOC blends than the ID value. On-line SALS can be applied to the research of BDT of PP/EOC blends.

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Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 02490220).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Xueliang Yan, Xinhua Xu & Lin Zhu

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  1. Xueliang Yan
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  2. Xinhua Xu
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  3. Lin Zhu
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Correspondence to Xinhua Xu.

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Yan, X., Xu, X. & Zhu, L. Analysis of brittle–ductile transition of polypropylene/ethylene-octene copolymer blends by scanning electron microscopy and small angle laser light scattering. J Mater Sci 42, 8645–8651 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-1882-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-1882-5

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