Kinetics of crystallization for polypropylene/polyethylene/halloysite nanotube nanocomposites

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the kinetics of non-isothermal crystallization of polypropylene/high-density polyethylene/halloysite nanotube (PP/HDPE/HNT) nanocomposites using three methods, that is, Avrami equation, combined Ozawa–Avrami method (hereafter called Mo model), and Kissinger equation. The Avrami exponent ( n) is in the range of 1–2 for all the PP/HDPE/HNT nanocomposites indicating instantaneous nucleation while the crystallization rate constant ( Zt) values of PP/HDPE increased with the addition of HNT. This proved that addition of HNT increases the crystallization rate. The reduction of half crystallization time ( t 1/2) for PP/HDPE as the increasing HNT loading indicates faster crystallization rate. In the Mo model, the cooling rate chosen at unit crystallization time F( T) values for PP/HDPE decreases with the addition of HNT. Kissinger equation showed that the activation energy ( E a) of crystallization for the PP/HDPE decreases with the addition of HNT. All the results demonstrated that HNT can accelerate the crystallization rate for the PP/polyethylene blends.