Expected nucleation effects of carboxylic acid salts on poly(1-butene)

9,10-Dihydro-9,10-ethano-anthracene-11,12-dicarboxylic acid disodium salt (DHEAS) was synthesized and used as a nucleating agent for poly(1-butene) (iPB). The isothermal crystallization kinetics of iPB having different nucleating agents were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy (POM). The results showed that the nucleating agents increased the crystallization temperature and the crystallization rate and shortened the crystallization half-time (t1/2). As well, the nucleating agents could be used as heterogeneous nuclei in the iPB matrix and decreased the size of iPB. When the nucleating agent was DHEAS, the crystallization temperature of iPB was up to 93.6°C which was higher than that of other nucleating agents for iPB and pure iPB. The crystallization half-time in the presence of DHEAS was 0.58 min which was less than that of other nucleating agents for iPB and pure iPB. In this case, the spherulitic size of iPB was the smallest and the morphology was changed, which indicated that DHEAS displayed better nucleation effect among the studied nucleating agents.