The effects of nucleating/clarifying agents in polypropylene

Polypropylene (PP) is one of the most important polymers of our time, produced at the highest volumes all over the world. The converting techniques of its are very versatile, from extrusion through cast- and blown-film, blow moulding till injection moulding, so as to satisfy the demand of the different applications such as the building-trade, packaging, household articles, automotive industry, etc. Of course, for all applications the customers (converters) need more and more advanced properties that can make the converting process smoother, faster, cheaper and the final product better.

These demands can be fulfilled with special base properties of the polypropylene, gained along the polymerization process, or with special additives. One special additive family is the so called nucleator/ clarifier additive that can improve the mechanical, thermal, optical properties of the products and also has positive effect on the dimensional stability and on the speed of converting. In our article we introduce the family of nucleators in general on basis of the connecting scientific literature, and present some of our results based on our laboratory experiments in case of TVK Plc.’s R 659 random PP grade.

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