Near-surface deformation in polypropylene blends

Polypropylene blends with up to 20% rubber phase are known as thermoplastic polyolefin or TPO and have been widely used in the automotive industry in both painted and unpainted components. Poor scratch resistance and paint adhesion have been of great concern for TPO applications. The research described in this thesis has addressed both of these issues by studying the near-surface deformation under scratches in unpainted TPO, and the interfacial adhesion and deformation of painted TPO. A transmission electron microscopy approach has been developed to study the microstructure and microdeformation in this important class of engineering materials.; It was observed that highly oriented near-surface material in injection-molded TPO plastically deformed by forming periodic shear bands under scratches. The material inside the shear band dilated as revealed by the difference in the angles between the shear band boundary and the rubber particles inside and outside the shear bands. The extent of material dilation inside the shear bands decreased with the distance from the free surface and increased with normal applied load. At high applied normal loads (>400 g), a significant amount of voiding caused by the debonding between the rubber phase and the PP matrix was observed. Talc particles were found to preferentially wet the rubber phase and this may prevent debonding between talc particles and the PP matrix as observed in talc-filled pure PP. The anisotropy in scratching behavior correlates with the anisotropy in mechanical properties. The morphology of the scratching deformation was found to be particularly sensitive to the near-surface structural anisotropy.; A tensile cracking test was applied to quantitatively measure the interfacial adhesion between paint and TPO substrates. Interfacial structure between chlorinated polyolefin adhesion promoter and TPO substrate was studied by electron microscopy. The swelling of the rubber phase near the interface was observed, evidently arising from the interaction with the solvent in the paint and adhesion promoter. Diffusion of the rubber phase near the interface was also observed. Baking at high temperature enhanced both the swelling and interfacial diffusion of rubber phase. Paint adhesion was improved in TPO substrates with lower molecular weight PP homopolymer, which was ascribed to the enhanced interfacial diffusion.