Interfacial crystallization of isotactic polypropylene molded against the copper surface with various surface roughnesses prepared by an electrochemical process

The influence of surface topography of copper (Cu) sheet on the heterogeneous nucleation of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) at the iPP/Cu interface had been investigated mainly using polarized optical microscope with hot stage. Various textures of Cu surfaces prepared by sandpaper polishing and electrochemical anodizing had been made and they were utilized to induce interfacial nucleation of iPP upon supercooling. This process enables us to change the topological feature of the copper surface without changing their chemical compositions. The pretreated surfaces were quantitatively characterized by a surface texture instrument in terms of RMS roughness (Ra). Copper surface with higher surface roughness induced more nuclei of iPP and led to a thicker transcrystalline layer in the interfacial region upon supercooling over the temperature range 128°C < Tc < 134°C. Based on the theory of heterogeneous nucleation, it was found that the induction time correlates well with the nucleation rate in determining the interfacial free energy difference function Δσ of iPP. The ratio of Δσ at the interface to that in the bulk matrix (ΔσTCL/Δσbulk) for the polished surface (Ra = 0.09 μm) is 2.89, implying the transcrystallization growth is unfavorable from a thermodynamic point of view. The ratio of ΔσTCL/Δσbulk becomes smaller as the current density for anodizing increases, indicating the transcrystallization growth is getting favorable. Moreover, induction times and nucleation rates were also measured to characterize quantitatively the nucleating ability of various Cu surfaces.