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Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefins and is partially crystalline and non-polar.
Polymer morphology is a microscale property that is largely dictated by the amorphous or crystalline portions of the polymer chains and their influence on each other. Microscopy techniques are especially useful in determining these microscale properties, as the domains created by the polymer morphology are large enough to be viewed using modern ...
For example, atactic polypropylene is usually amorphous and transparent while syndiotactic polypropylene, which has crystallinity ~50%, is opaque. [30] Crystallinity also affects dyeing of polymers: crystalline polymers are more difficult to stain than amorphous ones because the dye molecules penetrate through amorphous regions with greater ease.
The amorphous polyalphaolefins are synthesized by a catalyst system based on a Z-N supported catalyst and an alkyl aluminum co-catalyst. The polymerization process produces a mostly amorphous polymer with low crystallinity. Crystallinity depends on the catalyst system and on the use of co-monomers.
The PP and PE components of a blend constitute the "crystalline phase", and the rubber and branched PE chains and PE/PP end groups gives the "amorphous phase". If PP and PE are the dominant component of a TPO blend then the rubber fraction will be dispersed into a continuous matrix of "crystalline" polypropylene.
Solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) is a transition between the amorphous and crystalline phases of a material. It is usually produced by depositing a film of amorphous material on a crystalline substrate, then heating it to crystallize the film. The single-crystal substrate serves as a template for crystal growth.
Polyamorphism is also an important area in pharmaceutical science. The amorphous form of a drug typically has much better aqueous solubility (compared to the analogous crystalline form) but the actual local structure in an amorphous pharmaceutical can be different, depending on the method used to form the amorphous phase.
Phase transitions (phase changes) that help describe polymorphism include polymorphic transitions as well as melting and vaporization transitions. According to IUPAC, a polymorphic transition is "A reversible transition of a solid crystalline phase at a certain temperature and pressure (the inversion point) to another phase of the same chemical composition with a different crystal structure."