Morphology and non-isothermal crystallization of dynamically vulcanized PP/EPDM blends in situ compatibilized via magnesium dimethacrylate

Polypropylene/ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (PP/EPDM) blends in situ compatibilized by magnesium dimethacrylate (MDMA) were fabricated via peroxide-induced dynamic vulcanization. Scanning electron microscope observation indicated that the size of cross-linked EPDM particles decreased with incorporation of MDMA. Polarizing Optical Microscope (POM) analysis suggested that the spherulite size of PP phase decreased sharply with incorporation of MDMA during dynamic vulcanization. The Pseudo-Avrami, Ozawa and Mo's models were applied to analyze the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of the composites. The analyzed data indicated that the crosslinked EPDM particles and homopolymerized MDMA acted as heterogeneous nucleating agents, which enhanced the crystallizability and decreased the spherulite size of the PP phase. In addition, the non-isothermal crystallization activation energy (ΔE) was calculated through the Kissinger and Friedman methods, and the ΔE value was found increase with incorporation of MDMA.