Effect of silver nanoparticles on the morphology, crystallization, and melting behavior of polypropylene: A study on non-isothermal crystallization kinetics

The nanocomposites were prepared using melt intercalation method and the effects of the processing conditions on silver nanoparticles dispersion were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of virgin polypropylene (PP) and its nanocomposites have been evaluated using differential scanning calorimetric technique. The non-isothermal crystallization melt data were analyzed using macro kinetics equation with the help of Avrami, Malkin, and Mo’s models. The crystallization rate increased with the increasing of cooling rates for virgin PP and nanocomposite, but the crystallization of nanocomposite was faster than that of PP at a given cooling rate. The activation energy for non-isothermal crystallization of virgin polymer and nanocomposites based on Kissinger method has been determined to be 186 and 211 kJ/mol, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals balanced dispersion and presence of some silver nanoparticles aggregates, which act as a heterogeneous nucleating agent during the crystallization of the nanocomposite.