Effect of compatibilizer and electron irradiation on free-volume and microhardness of syndiotactic polypropylene/clay nanocomposites

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and microindentation methods were applied to study the modification of syndiotactic polypropylene properties (PP) due to introducing of nanoclay (4 wt%) and maleic anhydride-modified PP oligomer into the polymer matrix.The influence of electron irradiation of nanocomposites with different doses (⩽440 kGy) was also studied. It was found that the initial irradiation with 30 kGy has a considerable effect on o-Ps lifetimes and intensities. However, the studied materials do not show noticeable differences in their behavior.