Polypropylene Blends for Highly Drawn Tapes with Improved Toughness

László József Varga; Ákos Görbe; Tamás Bárány

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c01772

Polypropylene Blends for Highly Drawn Tapes with Improved Toughness

ACS Omega. 2023 Jun 15;8(25):22827-22835. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c01772. eCollection 2023 Jun 27.

Authors

László József Varga¹, Ákos Görbe¹, Tamás Bárány^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Polymer Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3., H-1111 Budapest, Hungary.
² MTA-BME Lendület Lightweight Polymer Composites Research Group, Műegyetem rkp. 3., H-1111 Budapest, Hungary.

Abstract

In this study, we used four amorphous poly-alpha-olefin (APAO) grades to improve the toughness of drawn polypropylene (PP) tapes. The samples containing different amounts of APAOs were drawn in a heat chamber of a tensile testing machine. The APAOs reduced the work of drawing and increased the melting enthalpy of the drawn specimens, as they facilitated the movement of the PP molecules. The APAO with the highest molecular weight and with a low level of crystallinity increased both the tensile strength and the strain-at-break of the specimens, so we also produced drawn tapes from that PP/APAO blend on a continuous-operation stretching line. The continuously drawn tapes also showed improved toughness.