Organogelators with dual β- and α-nucleating ability in isotactic polypropylene

Nucleation efficiency and the special supermolecular structure formed in the presence of novel nucleating agents, N,N′-dicyclohexylsuberoylamide and N,N′-dicyclohexylsebacoylamide are presented in this work. The nucleation effect is studied in isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The melting and crystallization processes as well as the polymorphic composition are studied using calorimetric and thermo-optical techniques, while the solubility of the nucleating agents is studied by rheology. The properties of the iPP products nucleated by the novel compounds are characterized by conventional tensile and impact tests and the optical properties are measured by standardized haze measurements. The results indicated clearly that the studied nucleating agents are partially soluble in the iPP melt and possess dual nucleating ability. The formation of β-phase is evidenced by the calorimetric and thermo-optical measurements. The morphology of the nucleated samples shows similarity to iPP nucleated by well-known soluble “organogelators”; however, the nucleating agents introduced in this work are the first “organogelators” with β-nucleating efficiency.