The effect of certain resin variables on the structure and properties of isotactic polypropylene filaments

The influence of isotacticity, ethylene comonomer content and nucleating agent additions on the structure and properties of melt spun polypropylene filaments was studied for a series of polypropylenes having similar resin melt flow tares (MFR @ 35), average molecular weights and polydispersities. In general, increasing the degree of isotacticity increases crystallinity and tensile modulus of the spun filaments while increasing the copolymer content has the opposite effect. Nucleating agent additions also lead to greater crystallinity, but, under certain conditions, the addition of nucleating agent can lead to lower tensile modulus in spite of higher crystallinity. Forgiven spinning conditions, the tensile strength increased slightly with increased copolymer content but was little affected by tacticity in the range studied. Nucleating agent additions lowered the tensile strength of as spun filaments. The effects of nucleating agents on the filament modulus and tensile strength were traced to their ability to raise the crystallization temperature and reduce the level of molecular orientation generated in the filaments.