Thermal and crystallization behavior of silane‐crosslinked polypropylene

Abstract Silane‐crosslinked polypropylene (PP) has been prepared first by the grafting of silane onto the backbone of PP in a melt process and then by crosslinking in warm water. The effects of type and concentration of silane and peroxide on the silane grafting on PP were investigated. The thermal behavior of the silane‐crosslinked PP was studied by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) methods. TG results show that PP prepared via silane crosslinking increases its thermal stability greatly. It has been found from DSC measurements that the crystallization temperatures, ie the onset temperature and peak temperature of the exotherm of the silane‐crosslinked PP, increase compared with those of the pure PP. The silane crosslinking hardly changes the crystallinity degree of PP. The crystallization behavior of the silane‐crosslinked PP was also studied by wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction analysis. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry