Viscoelastic relaxation mechanisms of conventional polypropylene toughened by a plastomer

Plastomers are new alternatives that provide a higher impact strength in polypropylene synthesized by conventional methods. This study presents an analysis of the structure and thermal characterization of two sets of polypropylene/plastomer blends. The difference between the two polypropylene samples is their molecular weight. With the structural knowledge obtained, a comprehensive analysis of the different relaxation processes has been performed. Neither component is miscible. The area under the loss tangent curves provides preliminary information about how the toughness is enhanced with this type of impact modifier. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.