Study of beta-alpha recrystallization of the polypropylene

The crystalline modifications and of polypropylene (PP) were studied by using polarized light microscopy (PLM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Typically crystals surrounded by spherulites were observed at low temperature. With increasing temperature the crystals melted and a new crystal appeared. More interestingly, the melting temperature of the new crystal was about 5 ° higher than that of spherulites originally present in the sample formed isothermally. It was assumed that this new crystal was the recrystalline crystal. This assumption was supported by the DSC results. Furthermore, the crystallization kinetics of the PP used was studied on the basis of the traditional Avrami analysis. As a result, the Avrami exponents of crystallization temperature from 120 to 130 °C ranged between 4.21 and 3.60, indicating that the crystallization mechanism of PP order melt was spherulitic growth and random nucleation.