A new method is reported in this paper that the toughness
stiffness and heat resistance of impact polypropylene copolymer (IPC) resin could be increased simultaneously by adding a small amount of hydrophobic nano-SiO
2
. According to the results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and polarized optical microscopy (POM)
a small amount of nano-SiO
2
can significantly reduce both the particle size of ethylene-propylene rubber and the spherulite size of polypropylene matrix in IPC; therefore
the stiffness
the heat resistance and the toughness of IPC at room temperature and low temperature can be improved simultaneously. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) results of the composite material indicate that the nano-SiO
2
particles are distributed uniformly in IPC resin. Tested in accordance with ASTM standard
the new composite material prepared in this new way shows that the flexural modulus and heat distortion temperature of IPC/nano-SiO
2
composite can gain a monotonical increase as much as 8% and 9.6%. It is also found that the nano-SiO
2
and the nucleating agent have synergy effect on IPC modification. When the content of nanoparticles reaches 0.7%
the impact strength gets an increase of 16.5%
the best performance among all samples. The particle sizes of ethylene-propylene rubber and spherulite size of polypropylene matrix in IPC are further reduced when nano-SiO
2
and nucleating agent are added into IPC together
which improve further the properties of IPC. The flexural modulus
flexural strength
Izod notched impact strength and heat distortion temperature of IPC are increased by 18%
15%
10% and 20% when 0.7% of SiO
2
and 0.3% of nucleating agent VP-101B are added into IPC resin. The experimental results show that
to modify IPC
use of the nano-particles and the nucleating agent together is a promising method to produce high performance IPC with high toughness
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