The toughening mechanism of polypropylene/calcium carbonate nanocomposites

The toughening mechanism of polypropylene (PP) filled with calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) nanoparticles is described. In a previous study (Macromolecule 2008;41:9204), we observed that intensive ligament-stretching following debonding of nanoparticles was responsible for the significant improvement in the impact toughness of the annealed PP/CaCO₃ nanocomposites. Furthermore, we hypothesized that strong ligaments, which have high fracture stresses, are needed to stabilize the crack-initiation process and to increase the energy dissipation in the crack-initiation stage. In this study, we used a high-molecular-weight PP to test this hypothesis because strong ligaments could be created from this high-molecular-weight PP. The notched Izod impact strength of the nanocomposites containing the high-molecular-weight PP and 20 wt% CaCO₃ nanoparticles with a monolayer coating of stearic acid was measured to be about 370 J/m, whereas the impact strength of the unfilled PP was 50 J/m. The size of the plastic deformation zone was found to be dependent on the molecular weight of the PP matrix because the strong ligaments of the high-molecular-weight PP enabled the expansion of the plastic deformation zone, leading to a considerable increase in the impact strength. The synergic effect of the high-molecular-weight PP and the monolayer-coated nanoparticles produced nanocomposites with high impact strength, which is much greater than the inherent impact strength of the unfilled polymer. In addition, the effect of the high-molecular-weight PP on the dispersion of the nanoparticles was investigated.