Effect of carbon nano-tube on non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of PC/PP (80/20)

The crystallization kinetics of PC/PP (80/20) blend nanocomposites have been studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) under non-isothermal condition. It is found that polycarbonate (PC) and polypropylene (PP) blend PC/PP (80/20) have overlapped crystalline phases when it is cooled from a temperature above its melting temperature. The overlapped phases have been successfully separated by using Fraser Suzuki (FS) function. Composites are prepared using multiwall carbon nanotubes and studied for non-isothermal crystallization kinetics. Composites have not shown any overlapping in the crystallization process. The kinetics of crystallization is studied using two popular crystallization kinetic models namely Ozawa and combined Avrami Ozawa model. The effective activation energy barriers have been estimated using isoconversional method of Friedman. The dependence of activation energy on relative degree of crystallinity have been observed for all the blend nanocomposites. Multiwall carbon nanotubes act as a nucleating agent and its effect is maximum for 3 wt% of carbon nanotubes in the PC/PP (80/20) blend.