Crystallization behavior of poly(trimethylene terephthalate)/mesoporous silica SBA-15 composites prepared by in situ polymerization

•Mesoporous SBA-15s are well compounded with PTT by in situ polymerization.•The presence of SBA-15 has large influence on the crystallization of PTT.•The composites have lower folding free surface energy than PTT.•The composites have higher diffusion activation energy than PTT.•The crystallization r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Thermochimica acta 2013-08, Vol.565, p.72-81
Main Authors: Yin, Li, Wu, Defeng, Yao, Zhen, Feng, Saihua, Zhang, Ming, Gao, Yufang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
activation energy
Chains
Composites
Crystallization
energy
in situ hybridization
In situ polymerization
Mesoporous silica
molecular weight
Nanostructure
Nucleation
Particulate composites
Poly(trimethylene terephthalate)
Polymerization
silica
Silicon dioxide
temperature
Terephthalate
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Summary:•Mesoporous SBA-15s are well compounded with PTT by in situ polymerization.•The presence of SBA-15 has large influence on the crystallization of PTT.•The composites have lower folding free surface energy than PTT.•The composites have higher diffusion activation energy than PTT.•The crystallization rate is dominated by nucleation rather than growth. Poly(trimethylene terephthalate)/mesoporous silica SBA-15 composites were prepared by in situ hybridization for the crystallization study. The results show that SBA-15 particles are well compounded with PTT, forming nanostructured composite system. Although the addition of SBA-15 particles results in an evident decrease of PTT molecular weight, those well dispersed mesoporous particles can compensate effectively for the property degradation of PTT. Besides, the addition of SBA-15 particles has large influence on the crystallization of PTT. The composites show higher crystallization temperature and rate than that of the neat PTT. But the presence of SBA-15 impedes PTT chain segment movements somewhat. In comparison with neat PTT, therefore, the composites present lower folding surface free energy and higher diffusion activation energy. The kinetic analysis results elucidate that the crystallization rate of PTT is dominated by the nucleation item instead of the growth one.
ISSN:0040-6031
1872-762X
DOI:10.1016/j.tca.2013.04.038