Effect of Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes on Non-isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Polypropylene: Comparison of Ozawa and Cazé-Chuah Methods

Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of polypropylene (PP) and PP containing 0.5 wt% singlewalled carbon nanotubes (PP/SWNT) were studied at various cooling rates using differential scanning calorimetry technique. The non-isothermal melt crystallization data were analyzed according to Ozawa and Cazé-Chuah models. Although Ozawa model was successful in describing the nonisothermal crystallization of PP, it failed to do so for PP/SWNT nanocomposite. The results obtained from Cazé-Chuah model show that the model was successful in describing non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of the nanocomposite and the pristine polymer. Using a method developed by Dobreva and Gutzow, it was found that the nucleation activity of SWNT on PP crystallization was around 0.65. This is consistent with the fact that SWNT acted as nucleating agents for PP.